Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Dec. 31, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020

DHSS today announced the deaths of three Alaska residents and 374 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska.  367 were residents in:  Anchorage (130), Bethel Census Area (51),  Kusilvak Census Area (50), Fairbanks (27), Wasilla (20), Bethel (10), Juneau  (10), Palmer (10), Eagle River (7), North Pole (7), Chugiak (6), Kodiak (6), Utqiaġvik (4), Fairbanks North Star Borough (3), Soldotna (3), Homer (2), Houston (2), Kenai (2), Petersburg (2), Unalaska (2), and one each in Bristol Bay plus Lake and Peninsula, Delta Junction, Girdwood, Kenai Peninsula Borough-North, Ketchikan, Northwest Arctic Borough, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Sterling, Sutton-Alpine, Yakutat plus Hoonah-Angoon, Valdez-Cordova Census Area/Chugach,  Valdez-Cordova Census Area/Copper River, and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.

Seven new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:

• Five in Unalaska with purposes under investigation
• One in Anchorage with purpose under investigation
• One in Utquiagvik with purpose under investigation  

128 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 45461 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1525.

Note: Backlogged data from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region are part of the reason for the large number of resident cases added through data verification procedures and increased cases in the YK Delta locations. There were no delays by the health provider in notifying the individuals who tested positive or in notifying the public through daily regional case summaries. However, these results were delayed in their delivery to DHSS and therefore in entry into our system. About 500 cases were previously unreported test results and are being added to the dashboard over the course of several days as data is confirmed and entered.

Alert Levels - The daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 37.89 cases per 100,000. Most regions of Alaska are in high alert status.   Two regions are at intermediate alert status.  Widespread community transmission occurring.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 93.12 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 44.69 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 42.52 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 41.8  cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 32.7 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 30.84 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 26.3 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 23.76 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 15.86 cases per 100,000

Intermediate (>4.8-10 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 9.43 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 6.81 cases per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 367 Alaska residents, 204 are male, 162 are female, and one is unknown. 25 are under the age of 10; 59 are aged 10-19; 77 are aged 20-29; 61 are aged 30-39; 52 are aged 40-49; 51 are aged 50-59; 21 are aged 60-69; ten are aged 70-79 and eleven are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 1,003 hospitalizations and 205 deaths, with and six  new hospitalizations and three deaths reported yesterday.   Our thoughts are with their family and loved ones. 

All deaths were recent:

• One male Anchorage residents in his 70s
• One male Wasilla resident in his 70s
• One male Wasilla resident in his 70s

There are currently 73 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and six additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 79 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Six of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 8.3%.

TESTING – A total of 1,275,750 tests have been conducted, with 21,233 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 4.92%. 

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 Dec. 30 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.