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

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020

Please note that the Alaska Coronavirus Response Hub (data dashboard) will NOT be updated on Dec. 25, but we will still send this summary email. 

DHSS today announced two deaths and 279 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 270 were residents in: Anchorage (100), Wasilla (30), Palmer (18), Fairbanks (16), Kodiak (13), Juneau (12),North Pole (9), Kenai (7), Soldotna (7), Utqiaġvik (7), Bethel (6), Eagle River (6), Fairbanks North Star Borough (6), Homer (4), Chugiak (3), Sitka (3), Valdez-Cordova Census Area - Other Chugach (3), Valdez-Cordova Census Area - Other Copper River (3), Delta Junction (2), Kenai Peninsula Borough North (2), Nome (2), Sterling (2), and one each in Aleutians West Census Area, Houston, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Nikiski, North Slope Borough, Skagway, Unalaska, Willow and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. 

Nine new nonresident cases were identified yesterday: 

• Unalaska: three with purpose under investigation
• Anchorage: one in travel and two with purpose under investigation 
• Fairbanks: one with purpose "other" and one with purpose under investigation
• Location Under Investigation: One with purpose with investigation 

Two resident cases and one nonresident case were subtracted from the dashboard through data verification procedures. The total number of Alaska resident cases is 43,629 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,475.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 54.66 cases per 100,000. All regions in Alaska except one are in high alert status with widespread community transmission occurring.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 115.11 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 69.71 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 63.12 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 57.24 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 50.79 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 47.65 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 45.73 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 31.38 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 17.42 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 15.37 cases per 100,000

Intermediate (> 4.8 – 10 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 6.09 cases per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 270 Alaska residents, 165 are male, 103 are female and two are unknown. 16 are under the age of 10; 32 are aged 10-19; 55 are aged 20-29; 54 are aged 30-39; 40 are aged 40-49; 35 are aged 50-59; 26 are aged 60-69; 10 are aged 70-79 and two are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 964 hospitalizations and 198 deaths, with 21 new hospitalizations and two new deaths reported yesterday. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the individuals who died. 

Two deaths were recent:

• A male Anchorage resident in his 70s
• A male Sterling resident in his 80s

There are currently 102 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and three additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 105 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Fourteen of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 10.3%.

TESTING – A total of 1,227,735 tests have been conducted, with 24,418 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 5%. 

TAKE ACTION – Vaccines are arriving in Alaska but we all still need to maintain our COVID-19 protective measures to keep ourselves and others safe and healthy: coronavirus.dhss.alaska.gov

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. 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. 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.