COVID-19 Alaska Weekly Case Update: June 13-19, 2021

Clinical Update

Alaska Department of Health & Social Services Weekly Case Update
June 13-19, 2021

Decreasing

Statewide transmission
Rt 0.91

Low

Statewide alert status
3.5

Adequate

Hospital capacity

Low

Test positivity
1.2%

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 increased last week relative to the previous week though incidence remains low.
  • The number of new cases held steady or declined in most boroughs and census areas; the overall statewide increase primarily reflects increased cases in Anchorage and Mat-Su and in the Kusilvak Census Area.
  • 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.
  • If you have received an initial dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, be sure to get your second dose too. Evidence suggests two doses of an mRNA vaccine are more effective than one dose of an mRNA vaccine, especially against emerging variants of concern.

Case Trends and Predictions

  • 218 cases were reported in Alaskans last week. This is a 55.7% increase from the week before.
  • The number of new cases held steady or declined in most boroughs and census areas; the overall statewide increase primarily reflects increased cases in Anchorage and Mat-Su and in the Kusilvak Census Area.
  • We expect considerable week-to-week variability in the number of cases. It is unclear whether or not the data from last week reflects a new trend.

Regional Case Trends

Behavioral Health Region

Case
rates
May 16–May 22

Case
rates
May 23–
May 29

Case rates May 30–June 5

Case rates June 6–June 12

Case rates June 13– June 19

Anchorage Municipality

5.4

3.8

3.1

2.5

3.6

Fairbanks North Star Borough

8.3

6.0

3.9

1.8

1.7

Interior Region except Fairbanks

19.4

25.9

24.4

13.5

9.3

Juneau City and Borough

3.8

3.6

6.7

7.0

3.4

Kenai Peninsula Borough

6.8

3.8

3.3

3.0

1.9

Matanuska-Susitna Region

8.7

5.9

4.7

3.6

2.6

Northern Southeast Region

5.6

4.2

4.2

2.5

3.2

Northwest Region

3.2

4.0

4.5

5.5

4.0

Southern Southeast Region

58.2

36.9

19.2

10.8

6.1

Southwest Region

3.2

3.5

3.8

3.3

2.8

Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region

9.6

9.1

6.9

5.2

12.1

Statewide

8.2

6.0

4.7

3.5

3.5

Vaccination Status


Reported vaccinations as of June 21, 2021.

Regional Vaccine Trends:

This is the percent of Alaskans aged 12+ who received one or more dose of vaccine.

Borough/Census Area

June 1

June 7

June 14

June 21

Aleutians East Borough

81.7%

83.9%

84.6%

84.9%

Aleutians West Census Area

63.7%

64.7%

66.6%

67.3%

Anchorage Municipality

55.9%

56.7%

57.3%

57.8%

Bethel Census Area

67.7%

68.5%

69.4%

70.5%

Bristol Bay plus Lake and Peninsula

76.5%

77.3%

78.3%

79.4%

Denali Borough

60.5%

62.0%

62.4%

64.0%

Dillingham Census Area

56.2%

56.7%

57.1%

57.9%

Fairbanks North Star Borough

44.4%

45.2%

45.9%

46.4%

Haines Borough

66.3%

66.7%

66.9%

68.1%

Juneau City and Borough

72.8%

73.8%

74.5%

75.1%

Kenai Peninsula Borough

43.6%

44.3%

44.8%

45.2%

Ketchikan Gateway Borough

59.5%

60.4%

61.1%

61.8%

Kodiak Island Borough

61.8%

62.5%

63.0%

63.6%

Kusilvak Census Area

67.4%

69.4%

71.0%

73.3%

Matanuska-Susitna Borough

35.6%

36.2%

36.7%

37.1%

Nome Census Area

75.7%

76.8%

78.0%

78.1%

North Slope Borough

34.5%

34.9%

35.5%

35.9%

Northwest Arctic Borough

56.7%

57.3%

57.8%

58.9%

Petersburg Borough

62.1%

62.7%

63.5%

64.3%

Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area

59.3%

62.7%

63.7%

64.5%

Sitka City and Borough

70.0%

71.1%

71.7%

72.3%

Skagway Municipality

78.3%

78.5%

79.0%

79.8%

Southeast Fairbanks Census Area

29.9%

30.6%

31.2%

31.6%

Valdez-Cordova Census Area

57.0%

57.7%

58.5%

59.0%

Wrangell City and Borough

57.9%

59.4%

59.6%

60.5%

Yakutat plus Hoonah-Angoon

73.3%

73.6%

74.5%

75.4%

Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area

71.9%

72.3%

73.7%

75.5%

Statewide

52.0%

53%

54%

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.
  • If you have received an initial dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, be sure to get your second dose too. Evidence suggests two doses of an mRNA vaccine are more effective than one dose of an mRNA vaccine, especially against emerging variants of concern.

New Cases, Hospitalizations, and Deaths

  • During the week of June 13 through June 19, 2021, 218 cases were reported in Alaskans. This is a 55.7% increase compared to the week prior for a total of 68,099 cases.
  • Cumulative hospitalizations increased to 1,602 with 5 reported as occurring this week. Hospitalization reports often lag and only 1,590 hospitalizations were reported at this time last week, so there are 12 hospitalizations newly reported this week including ones that began during previous weeks.
  • No deaths were reported this week (366 total). It is common to take more than a week for a death to be reported, and deaths that occurred during June 13–June 19 may be reported in the future after death certificates are reviewed.
  • 19 new nonresident cases were identified this week for a total of 2,851 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

The most recent Alaska COVID Genomic Surveillance report was released on June 16

Variants of Concern

Cases Identified

Change From Last Week

First Identified in Alaska

Alpha (B.1.1.7)

324

+30

20 December 2020

Beta (B.1.351)

7

+2

20 March 2021

Gamma (P.1/P.1.1/P.1.2)

43

+5

8 February 2021

Delta (B.1.617.2/AY.1)

4

+2

30 May 2021

Epsilon (B.1.427/429)

137

+2

24 December 2020


Variants of Interest

Cases Identified

Change From Last Week

First Identified in Alaska

Eta (B.1.525)

1

0

16 March 2021

Iota (B.1.526)

16

-5

4 February 2021

Zeta (P.2)

4

0

27 January 2021

Alaska’s Public Health Laboratories continue to monitor for variants of concern and interest

Health Care Capacity

On June 21, 10 Alaskans with confirmed COVID-19 were hospitalized and 4 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: