Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Dec. 8, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020

DHSS today announced 580 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 564 were residents in: Anchorage (209), Bethel Census Area (64), Fairbanks (54), Kodiak (28), Wasilla (28), Kusilvak Census Area (24), North Pole (21), Eagle River (19), Palmer (15), Kenai (12), Bethel (11), Utqiaġvik (10), Juneau (9), Soldotna (9), Homer (5), Delta Junction (4), Chugiak (3), Kenai Peninsula Borough North (3), Nikiski (3), Sitka (3), Aleutians East Borough (2), Big Lake (2), Fairbanks North Star Borough (2), Nome (2), NW Arctic Borough (2), Sterling (2), one each in Anchor Point, Girdwood, Healy, Ketchikan, Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Kodiak Island Borough, Kotzebue, Bristol Bay/Lake & Peninsula, Mat-Su Borough, Seward, Tok, Unalaska and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, and five cases with locations under investigation.

Sixteen new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:

• Unalaska: nine in seafood industry
• Anchorage: one with purpose under investigation
• Fairbanks: one with purpose under investigation
• Delta Junction: one with purpose under investigation
• Locations under investigation: four with purposes under investigation

Two resident cases and one nonresident case were removed from the dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 36,758 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,358.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 89.6 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: 183.25 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 159.18 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 102.06 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 90.46 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 84.05 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 58.85 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 46.31 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 45.36 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 27.24 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 23 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 15.05 cases per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 564 Alaska residents, 290 are male and 263 are female and 11 are unknown. 45 are under the age of 10; 82 are aged 10-19; 100 are aged 20-29; 104 are aged 30-39; 54 are aged 40-49; 72 are aged 50-59; 63 are aged 60-69; 32 are aged 70-79 and 12 are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 811 hospitalizations and 145 deaths, with 21 new hospitalizations and no new deaths reported yesterday.

There are currently 147 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 12 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 159 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Twenty-one of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 15.1%.

TESTING – A total of 1,088,978 tests have been conducted, with 30,612 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 6.8%. 

ANCHORAGE PIONEER HOME UPDATE – Since the last update on Dec. 1, 12 residents and two staff members 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 28 residents and 15 staff associated with this outbreak. There are 12 active resident and six staff cases with no current hospitalizations and no additional deaths; the total number of deaths remains at one.

Twice weekly testing of residents and staff will continue at the home until 14 days have passed with no new cases identified. The State Emergency Operations Center also continues to provide PPE and testing supplies to the home at their request.

DHSS COVID-19 WEBSITE UPDATE – The DHSS COVID-19 website is being redesigned and changes intended to make the website clearer and easier to navigate will go live tonight. No changes will be made to the address so you can continue to stay informed at dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/Pages/COVID-19/.

TAKE ACTION – 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. 7 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.