COVID-19 Alaska Weekly Case Update: June 6-12, 2021

Clinical Update

Alaska Department of Health & Social Services Weekly Case Update
June 6-12, 2021

Decreasing

Statewide transmission
Rt 0.76

Low

Statewide alert status
3.5

Adequate

Hospital capacity

Low

Test positivity
0.83%

54%
Alaskan 12 years and older are vaccinated

Red- quickly increasing, Rt>1.2

Orange- increasing, Rt 1-1.2

Yellow-decreasing, Rt<1

Red- 14-day average case rate per 100,000 people >10

Orange- 5-10

Yellow- <5

Red- <3 weeks until beyond capacity

Orange- 3-6 weeks

Yellow- >6 weeks

Red->5%

Orange- 2-5%

Yellow- <2%

At least one shot. Estimated AK population 12 and older of 607,022 from the US Department of Labor

Brief Status Report

  • The overall number of reported COVID-19 cases in Alaska was lower than the previous week continuing the statewide trend that has been observed since late April. However, cases continue to be reported from most boroughs and census areas.
  • Since January 1, 2021, 97% of all COVID-19 hospitalizations in Alaska have been among people who were unvaccinated.
  • 54% of Alaskans aged 12 years and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
  • As of June 1, anyone age 12 and older, including nonresident tourists, arriving at the Juneau, Fairbanks, or Anchorage airports is able to get a dose of vaccine free of charge at the airport

Case Trends and Predictions

  • 140 cases were reported in Alaskans last week. This is a 38% decrease from the week before.
  • The incidence of COVID-19 appears to be declining in most boroughs and census areas.
  • We expect considerable week-to-week variability in the number of cases, especially in smaller communities or where incidence is low.
  • The estimated statewide daily growth rate as of June 1 is -4.6% and new cases are expected to halve every 15.2 days based on current modeling.

Regional Case Trends

Behavioral Health Region

Case
rates
May 9–May 15

Case
rates
May 16–May 22

Case
rates
May 23–
May 29

Case rates May 30–June 5

Case rates June 6–June 12

Anchorage Municipality

8.2

5.4

3.8

3.1

2.5

Fairbanks North Star Borough

15.6

8.3

6.0

3.9

1.8

Interior Region except Fairbanks

14.0

19.4

25.9

24.4

13.5

Juneau City and Borough

7.2

3.8

3.6

6.7

7.0

Kenai Peninsula Borough

7.8

6.8

3.8

3.3

3.0

Matanuska-Susitna Region

14.8

8.7

5.9

4.7

3.6

Northern Southeast Region

7.7

5.6

4.2

4.2

2.5

Northwest Region

5.0

3.2

4.0

4.5

5.5

Southern Southeast Region

54.2

58.2

36.9

19.2

10.8

Southwest Region

2.5

3.2

3.5

3.8

3.3

Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region

6.9

9.6

9.1

6.9

5.2

Statewide

11.2

8.2

6.0

4.7

3.5

Vaccination Status


Reported vaccinations as of June 14, 2021.

Regional Vaccine Trends:

  • Through May 24 this is the percent of Alaskans aged 16+ who received one more dose of vaccine. Beginning on June 1, the calculation changed to the percent of Alaskans aged 12+ who have received one or more dose of vaccine. The percentage may be lower since the number of persons eligible for the vaccine increased.

Borough/Census Area

May 16

May 24

June 1

June 7

June 14

Aleutians East Borough

66.7%

77.7%

81.7%

83.9%

84.6%

Aleutians West Census Area

58.1%

63.1%

63.7%

64.7%

66.6%

Anchorage Municipality

56.3%

57.3%

55.9%

56.7%

57.3%

Bethel Census Area

70.4%

71.4%

67.7%

68.5%

69.4%

Bristol Bay plus Lake and Peninsula

77.4%

78.1%

76.5%

77.3%

78.3%

Denali Borough

56.0%

58.8%

60.5%

62.0%

62.4%

Dillingham Census Area

53.1%

53.8%

56.2%

56.7%

57.1%

Fairbanks North Star Borough

44.0%

45.2%

44.4%

45.2%

45.9%

Haines Borough

66.6%

67.2%

66.3%

66.7%

66.9%

Juneau City and Borough

72.6%

74.0%

72.8%

73.8%

74.5%

Kenai Peninsula Borough

44.2%

45.0%

43.6%

44.3%

44.8%

Ketchikan Gateway Borough

59.4%

61.2%

59.5%

60.4%

61.1%

Kodiak Island Borough

62.7%

63.7%

61.8%

62.5%

63.0%

Kusilvak Census Area

70.7%

72.2%

67.4%

69.4%

71.0%

Matanuska-Susitna Borough

36.5%

37.3%

35.6%

36.2%

36.7%

Nome Census Area

74.4%

76.1%

75.7%

76.8%

78.0%

North Slope Borough

34.7%

35.3%

34.5%

34.9%

35.5%

Northwest Arctic Borough

58.3%

59.4%

56.7%

57.3%

57.8%

Petersburg Borough

76.2%

77.0%

62.1%

62.7%

63.5%

Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area

50.1%

51.8%

59.3%

62.7%

63.7%

Sitka City and Borough

71.1%

72.1%

70.0%

71.1%

71.7%

Skagway Municipality

78.7%

79.2%

78.3%

78.5%

79.0%

Southeast Fairbanks Census Area

31.2%

31.6%

29.9%

30.6%

31.2%

Valdez-Cordova Census Area

-

-

57.0%

57.7%

58.5%

Wrangell City and Borough

58.7%

58.9%

57.9%

59.4%

59.6%

Yakutat plus Hoonah-Angoon

72.6%

73.7%

73.3%

73.6%

74.5%

Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area

75.6%

76.1%

71.9%

72.3%

73.7%

Statewide

52.9%

53.7%

52.0%

53%

54%

  • To schedule your vaccine appointment visit covidvax.alaska.gov or call 907-646-3322. The call line is staffed Monday-Friday from 9AM-6:30PM and 9AM-4:30PM on weekends.
  • You can also visit vaccines.gov or find clinics in your area by texting your zip code  to GETVAX (438829) in English, or VACUNA (822862) for Spanish.

New Cases, Hospitalizations, and Deaths

  • During the week of June 6 through June 12, 2021, 140 cases were reported in Alaskans. This is a 38% decrease compared to the week prior, for a total of 67,866 cases.
  • Cumulative hospitalizations increased to 1,590 with 2 reported as occurring this week. Hospitalization reports often lag and only 1581 hospitalizations were reported at this time last week, so there are 9 hospitalizations newly reported this week including ones that began during previous weeks.
  • Four deaths were reported this week, however none of these occurred during the previous week (366 total). It is common to take more than a week for a death to be reported, and deaths that occurred during June 6–June 12 may be reported in the future after death certificates are reviewed.
  • 10 new nonresident cases were identified this week for a total of 2,832 cases.

Vaccine Breakthrough Cases

  • Vaccine breakthrough (VB) infections of COVID are those detected in a person who is more than 2 weeks beyond their second dose of a 2-dose series or the only dose of a 1-dose series. All VB cases are investigated by the Section of Epidemiology but only VB cases associated with hospitalization or death are reported to the CDC.
  • From January 1–June 12, 2021, Alaska has recorded one death and thirteen hospitalizations resulting from a VB infection among Alaska residents. These counts are provisional and subject to change as more data are compiled. In that same time frame, a total of 21,580 cases, 493 hospitalizations, and 102 deaths were reported. 97% of all hospitalizations to date were unvaccinated people.
  • Specimens from VB infections (regardless of severity) are prioritized for sequencing and described in the weekly Alaska Genomics Report

Variant Tracking

Variants of Concern

Cases Identified

Change From Last Week

First Identified in Alaska

Alpha (B.1.1.7)

294

+64

20 December 2020

Beta (B.1.351)

5

0

20 March 2021

Gamma (P.1)

38

+10

8 February 2021

Delta (B.1.617.2/AY.1)

2

+2

30 May 2021

Epsilon (B.1.427)

7

0

30 March 2021

Epsilon (B.1.429)

128

+4

24 December 2020

 

Variants of Interest

Cases Identified

Change From Last Week

First Identified in Alaska

Iota (B.1.526)

21

+4

4 February 2021

Eta (B.1.525)

1

0

16 March 2021

Zeta (P.2)

4

0

27 January 2021

Health Care Capacity

  • On June 14, 21 Alaskans with confirmed COVID-19 were hospitalized and 3 were reported to require a mechanical ventilator.

Total Confirmed COVID-19 Beds Occupied

Cases by Week Reported and Age Group

Cases by Week Reported and Race

Cases by Week Reported and Region

Additional informational resources: