Alaska COVID-19 Data Summary: July 16, 2021

COVID-19 DATA SUMMARY – July 16, 2021

Reporting data for 12 a.m. - 11:59 p.m. July 14-15

OVERVIEW – 284 new cases | 0 deaths | 56 hospitalizations | Statewide alert level: intermediate | 51% of Alaskans 12+ 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. Learn more about the CDC’s recommendations for fully vaccinated people at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html.

VACCINATIONS – 56% of Alaskans age 12 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose.

51% of Alaskans 12 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 12 and older by region:

• Juneau Region: 73%
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 68%
• YK-Delta Region: 68%
• Southwest Region: 62%
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 61%
• Northwest Region: 56%
• Anchorage Region: 53%
• Other Interior Region: 53%
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 46%
• Kenai Peninsula Region: 44%
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 36%

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

CASES – DHSS today announced 284 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska over the past two days:

• July 14 – 120 residents, 12 nonresidents
• July 15 – 144 residents, 8 nonresidents

264 total residents in: Anchorage (115), Sitka (38), Cordova (17), Homer (14), Kenai (10), Fairbanks (8), Wasilla (8), Anchor Point (7), Juneau (5), Kodiak (4), Hooper Bay (3), North Pole (3), Palmer (3), Petersburg (3), Bethel (2), Bethel Census Area (2), Chugiak (2), Eagle River (2), Seward (2), Skagway (2), Soldotna (2), and one each in Chevak, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Girdwood, Healy, Kenai Peninsula Borough South, Kotzebue, Kusilvak Census Area, Northwest Arctic Borough, Sterling, Willow and (2) unknown locations.

20 nonresident cases were identified in:

• Homer: three with purposes under investigation
• Anchorage: two with purposes under investigation
• Cordova: two with purposes under investigation
• Juneau: two with purposes under investigation
• Kenai: two with purposes under investigation
• Kodiak: two in seafood industry
• Fairbanks: one in ‘other’ industry
• Girdwood: one with purpose under investigation
• Seward: one visitor
• Sitka: one with purpose under investigation
• Soldotna: one in ‘other’ industry
• Location under investigation: two with purposes under investigation

Two resident cases and one nonresident case were added to the dashboard due to data verification procedures bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 69,453 and the total number of nonresident cases to 2,987.

HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 1,665 resident hospitalizations and 374 resident deaths, with seven new hospitalizations and no new resident deaths reported over the last two days. 

There are currently 56 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and one additional patient who is considered a person under investigation (PUI) for a total of 57 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Eight of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 5.2%.

TESTING – A total of 2,428,810 tests have been conducted, with 16,413 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 3.52%.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is intermediate at 9.6 cases per 100,000. Five regions of Alaska are in high alert status with widespread community transmission; no regions are at intermediate alert status with moderate transmission; and six regions are at low alert with minimal transmission.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 37.10 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 14.80 cases per 100,000
• YK-Delta Region: 13.20 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 13.20 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 13.00 cases per 100,000

Intermediate (>5-10 cases/100,000)

Low (0-5 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 4.30 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 4.30 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 4.00 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 2.80 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 2.60 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 2.00 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. 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.