Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Nov. 27, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Friday, Nov. 27, 2020

DHSS today announced 735 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 724 were residents in: Wasilla (278), Anchorage (120), Palmer (80), Soldotna (36), Fairbanks (36), Kenai (27), Bethel Census Area (25), Eagle River (15), Chugiak (10), Homer (10), Bethel (8), Kenai Peninsula Borough North (7), Delta Juntion (6), North Pole (6), Sterling (6), Unknown locations (6), Utqiaġvik (5), Houston (4), Nikiski (4), Anchor Point (3), Big Lake (3), Kodiak (3), Nome (3), Seward (3),  Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (3), Craig (2), Juneau (2), Sitka (2), Southeast Fairbanks Census Area (2), and one each in Dillingham Census Area, Ester, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Fritz Creek,  Kusilvak Census Area, Northwest Arctic Borough, Meadow Lakes, Tok, and Willow.

Eleven new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:

• Six in Anchorage with purposes under investigation
• Two in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough with purposes under investigation 
• One in Fairbanks with purpose under investigation
• Two with location and purpose under investigation 

Sixty-two resident cases were subtracted and one nonresident case was added to the dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 28,554 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,222.

Note:  Backlogged data from a lab are part of the reason for the large case count in the Mat-Su today, as today’s count includes cases from the past ten days that had not yet been added. About 275 cases were previously unreported test results. There were no delays in notifying the individuals who tested positive,but these results were delayed in their delivery to public health and therefore in entry into our system.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 81.1 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: 153.4 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 113.5 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 104.9 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 64.9 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 57.0 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 46.1 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 45.4 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 38.3 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 25.9 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 24.4 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 13.3 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 724 Alaska residents, 426 are male and 298 are female. 57 are under the age of 10; 94 are aged 10-19; 132 are aged 20-29; 141 are aged 30-39; 123 are aged 40-49; 92 are aged 50-59; 54 are aged 60-69; 26 are aged 70-79 and five are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 678 hospitalizations and 118 deaths, with three new hospitalizations reported yesterday. 

There are currently 147 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and twelve additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 159 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Twenty-five of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 14.3%.

TESTING – A total of 990,773 tests have been conducted, with 28,338 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 6.5%. 

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. 26 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.