Alaska COVID-19 Daily Summary: May 6, 2021

COVID-19 DAILY SUMMARY – May 6, 2021

Reporting data for 12 a.m. - 11:59 p.m. May 5

OVERVIEW – 92 new cases | 1 death | 53 hospitalizations | Statewide alert level: high | 47.9% of Alaskans vaccinated

TAKE ACTION – Choosing to get vaccinated is the single most important action you can take to protect yourself and your community and to reopen our economy. Until more people are vaccinated and case rates are lower in Alaska, take precautions including wearing a mask, staying six feet apart from others, and avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces. Learn more at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html.

VACCINATIONS – 51% of Alaskans age 16 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose.  

47.9% of Alaskans 16 and older have been fully vaccinated. The higher the vaccination rate, the more protected community members are from COVID-19. See below for percentages of all fully vaccinated Alaskans age 16 and older by region:

• Juneau Region: 70.2%
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 65.5%
• YK-Delta Region: 62.7%
• Northwest Region: 52.2%
• Anchorage Region: 50.6%
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 50.6%
• Other Interior Region: 49.4%
• Southwest Region: 48.5%
• Kenai Peninsula Region: 41.3%
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 40.4%
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 34.6%

For more information about vaccines, visit covidvax.alaska.gov.

Please note, the data team is currently working to resolve an issue on the vaccine dashboard that results in the percentage gauge and count of Alaskans who have received their first dose showing slightly inflated data due to duplicate records being included. The data referenced for each census area and borough on the map is accurate.

CASES – DHSS today announced one death of an Alaska resident and 92 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 92 were residents in: Anchorage (30), Fairbanks (13), Wasilla (13), Ketchikan (9), North Pole (7), Craig (2), Delta Junction (2), Eagle River (2), Fairbanks North Star Borough (2), Juneau (2), Petersburg (2), Soldotna (2), and one each in Big Lake, Chugiak, Houston, Kenai, Ketchikan Gateway Borough and Nikiski.

No new nonresident cases were identified yesterday.

Four resident cases were added to the dashboard due to data verification procedures bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 66,004 and the total number of nonresident cases to 2,758.

HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 1,508 resident hospitalizations and 343 resident deaths, with two new hospitalizations and one new recent death reported yesterday. The individual who died was a male Fairbanks resident in his 20s. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.

There are currently 53 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and one additional patient who is considered a person under investigation (PUI) for a total of 54 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Seven of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 4.7%.

TESTING – A total of 2,133,258 tests have been conducted, with 26,314 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 2.07%. dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/Pages/COVID-19/testing.aspx

Variants of concern situation summary

B.1.1.7 (31 added since last report)

• 1.1.7 variant is being seen widely in Alaska
  • Anchorage, Mat-Su, Kenai Peninsula, Fairbanks/Interior, Southeast Northern case was associated with non-northern region exposure
• Continue to see new importations (e.g., cases associated with travel out of state)
• Also seeing some instances of secondary and community spread

P.1 (2 added since last report)

• Both newly identified cases were sequenced because of their known relationship to prior P.1 cases
  • One was a likely source
  • One was a close contact

B.1.351 (2 added since last report)

• Two household members in Mat-Su area with a travel history out of state

Through May 4, the total number of B.1.1.7 (UK) cases is 62; P.1 (Brazil) cases is 11; and B.1.351 (South Africa) cases is 3. The full weekly genomic surveillance report is posted online at dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/Pages/COVID-19/variants.aspx.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 17.27 cases per 100,000. Six regions of Alaska are in high alert status with widespread community transmission. Three regions are at intermediate alert status with moderate transmission and two regions are at low alert with minimal transmission. dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/Pages/COVID-19/alertlevels.aspx

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 43.01 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 25.43 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 24.21 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 14.75 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 11.74 cases per 100,000
• YK-Delta Region: 11.01 cases per 100,000

Intermediate (>4.8-10 cases/100,000)

• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 9.57 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 7.9 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 5.85 cases per 100,000

Low (0-4.8 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 4.55 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 3.74 cases per 100,000

Notes: 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. When there is a high number of reports being received, this may cause delays in getting reports entered and counted. Personnel continue to focus on the effort to process and count reports and minimize the delay from receipt to posting on the 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; weekly and daily case summaries are archived at dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/Pages/COVID-19/communications.aspx#updates.