Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Nov. 24, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020

DHSS today announced announced thirteen new deaths and 583 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska.  578 were residents in:  Anchorage (328), Eagle River (38), Wasilla (28), Soldotna (20), Kenai(16), Bethel (15), Nome (14), Fairbanks (13),  Kodiak (13), Utqiaġvik (12), Palmer (9), Bethel Census Area (7), Chugiak (7), Delta Junction (6), Juneau (6), North Pole (6),  Cordova (5), Homer (5), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (4), Kotzebue (3), Aleutians East Borough (2), Girdwood (2), Kenai Peninsula Borough- North (2), Kodiak Island Borough (2), Seward (2), Sterling (2), and one each in Aleutians West Census Area, Anchor Point, Douglas, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Fritz Creek, Kusilvak Census Area, Nikiski, Nome Census Area, NW Arctic Borough, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, and Sitka.

Five new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:

• One in Eagle River with purpose under investigation.
• One in the Northwest Arctic Borough with purpose under investigation
• Three with unknown location and purpose under investigation 

Six resident cases and one nonresident case were added to the dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 27,669 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,194.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 77.0 cases per 100,000. All regions of Alaska are in high alert status with widespread community transmission occurring.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 137.91 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 112,71 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 92.03 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 62.76 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 47.39 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 47.3 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 38.05 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 36.83 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 30.37 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 24,79 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 10.39 cases per 100,000

MODELING APP – The modeling application, which provides the Projected Epidemiological Curve, Reproductive Number and Average Daily Rate, is also temporarily unavailable while it’s being revised to take into account the changes to onset date for cases and removal of active and recovered cases.

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 578 Alaska residents, 286 are male and 288 are female and four are unknown. 37 are under the age of 10; 46 are aged 10-19; 108 are aged 20-29; 133 are aged 30-39; 86 are aged 40-49; 79 are aged 50-59; 56 are aged 60-69; 21 are aged 70-79, and twelve are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 619 hospitalizations and 115 deaths, with fourteen new hospitalizations and and thirteen new deaths reported yesterday.  Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the individuals who died.  

Recent deaths:

• a male Sterling resident in his 70s
• a male Wasilla resident in his 60s
• a female Dillingham resident in her 80s
• a female Bethel Census Area resident in her 80s
• a male Soldotna resident in his 90s

In addition, eight deaths are reported following death certificate review:

• a female Anchorage resident in her 60s
• a male Soldotna resident in his 80s
• a male Bethel resident in his 30s
• a female Bethel Census Area resident in her 60s
• a male Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area resident in his 90s
• a male Bethel Census Area resident in his 70s
• a male Anchorage resident in his 60s
• a male Kusilvak Census Area resident in his 70s

There are currently 131 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 13 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 144 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Twenty-one of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 13.3%.

TESTING – A total of 943,401 tests have been conducted, with 28,774 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 6.78%. 

ALASKA PIONEER HOMES UPDATE

Anchorage: Since the last update on Nov. 17, no residents and three staff have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Anchorage Pioneer Home. This brings the total number of cases at the home since Nov. 3 to 15 residents and 10 staff associated with this outbreak. There are currently no hospitalizations and no deaths have occurred. Twice weekly testing of residents and staff at the home will continue until 14 days have passed with no new cases identified.

Fairbanks: Since the last update on Nov. 17, no new cases of COVID-19 have been identified at the Fairbanks Pioneer Home and there are no active cases. Since 14 days have now passed with no new cases, testing will move to a weekly schedule. However, the team at the home remains alert to new cases and continues to educate about keeping social circles small, especially for the Thanksgiving holiday, to limit everyone’s exposure while out in the community which is still experiencing widespread transmission. The number of cases at the home for this outbreak since Sept. 21 totals 38 residents and 32 staff, with three deaths.

The Alaska Pioneer Homes would like to thank the local and state public health nurses, state Public Health Labs and the State Emergency Operations Center who have all provided their support to the homes during these outbreaks.

Notes: Cases reported to the Section of Epidemiology are increasing. Reports are received electronically, by phone and by fax. Cases are verified, redundancies are eliminated and then cases are entered into the data system that feeds into Alaska’s Coronavirus Response Hub. Because of the number of reports being received, it may take a day or two after receipt to get a report entered and counted. Extra personnel continue to focus on the effort to process and count reports and minimize the delay from receipt to posting on the Hub. Daily case counts seem likely to remain at this level or higher for the near future.

This report reflects data from 12 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 23 that posted at noon today on the Alaska Coronavirus Response Hub. There is a lag between cases being reported on the DHSS data dashboard and what local communities report. Each case is an individual person even if they are tested multiple times. Total tests are a not a count of unique individuals tested and includes both positive and negative results. The current number of hospitalized patients represents more real-time data compared to the cumulative total hospitalizations. Total number of hospital beds available fluctuate daily as the number of available hospital staff changes. All data reported in real-time, on a daily basis, should be considered preliminary and subject to change. To view more data visit: data.coronavirus.alaska.gov.