Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Dec. 6, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020

DHSS today announced 756 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 750 were residents in: Anchorage (331), Wasilla (162), Palmer (38), Kodiak (30), Eagle River (27), Fairbanks (27), Utqiaġvik (22), Soldotna (20), Kenai (17), Bethel (14), Homer (8), North Pole (8), Chugiak (7), Bethel Census Area (5), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (4), Big Lake (3), Juneau (3), Kenai Peninsula Borough North (3), Kusilvak Census Area (3), Bristol Bay/Lake & Peninsula (2), Girdwood (2), Kotzebue (2), Nikiski (2) and one each in Anchor Point, Delta Junction, Denali Borough, Fritz Creek, Houston, Ketchikan, Nome Census Area, Sitka, Unalaska and Willow.

Six new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:

• Unalaska: two in seafood industry
• Anchorage: two with purpose under investigation
• Wasilla: one with purpose under investigation 
• Location under investigation: one with purpose under investigation

Seven resident cases and two nonresident cases were added to the dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 35,720 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,316.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 89.7 cases per 100,000. All regions in Alaska are in high alert status with widespread community transmission occurring.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 172.93 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 154.42 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 105.73 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 95.11 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 72.92 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 65.62 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 48.74 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 40.97 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 27.24 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 23.45 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 14.69 cases per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 750 Alaska residents, 430 are male and 315 are female and five are unknown. 44 are under the age of 10; 75 are aged 10-19; 148 are aged 20-29; 134 are aged 30-39; 100 are aged 40-49; 117 are aged 50-59; 81 are aged 60-69; 36 are aged 70-79 and 15 are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 784 hospitalizations and 142 deaths, with no new hospitalizations or deaths reported yesterday.

There are currently 153 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 11 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 164 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Twenty-one of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 14.6%.

TESTING – A total of 1,077,776 tests have been conducted, with 36,521 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 6.91%. 

TAKE ACTION to protect yourself and others: coronavirus.dhss.alaska.gov/#takeaction

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, there have been delays in getting reports 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 Dec. 5 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. Current hospitalizations are reported for all facilities, not just general acute care and critical access facilities, as is the default on the dashboard. 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.