Alaska COVID-19 Data Summary: August 4, 2021

COVID-19 DATA SUMMARY – August 4, 2021

Reporting data for 12 a.m. - 11:59 p.m. Aug. 3

OVERVIEW – 338 new cases | 2 deaths | 101 hospitalizations | Statewide alert level: high | 52.6% 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, including their recent change to masking guidance, at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html.

VACCINATIONS – 58.1% of Alaskans age 12 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose.

52.6% 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: 74.5%
• YK-Delta Region: 70%
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 68.7%
• Southwest Region: 63.3%
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 62%
• Northwest Region: 56.9%
• Anchorage Region: 54.5%
• Other Interior Region: 53.6%
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 46.5%
• Kenai Peninsula Region: 44.6%
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 36.8%

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

CASES – DHSS today announced one death of an Alaska resident and one death of a nonresident as well as 338 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska yesterday. 323 were residents in:  Anchorage (129), Kodiak (22), Wasilla (22), Fairbanks (15), Eagle River (14), Ketchikan (12), Soldotna (12), Sitka (11), Homer (9), Juneau (9), Kenai (9), Palmer (7), Nome Census Area (6), Anchor Point (4), Big Lake (4), Craig (3), North Pole (3), Seward (3), Bethel Census Area (2), Copper River Census Area (2), Cordova (2), Fairbanks North Star Borough (2), Kenai Peninsula Borough - Other South (2), Northwest Arctic Borough (2), Skagway (2), Sutton-Alpine (2), Utqiaġvik (2), Yukon-Koyukok Census Area (2), and one each in Bethel, Douglas, Healy, Kenai Peninsula Borough - Other North, Nikiski, Prince Of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Sterling, Tok, and Valdez.

15 new nonresident cases were identified in:

• Anchorage: 1 with 'other' industry, 3 with purposes under investigation
• Copper River Census Area: 2 with purposes under investigation
• Juneau: 2 with purposes under investigation
• Skagway: 2 with purposes under investigation
• Wasilla: 2 with purposes under investigation
• Soldotna: 1 with purpose under investigation
• Fairbanks: 1 with purpose oil 
• Location under investigation: 1 with purpose under investigation

Four resident cases have been added to the dashboard due to data verification procedures bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 73,584 and the total number of nonresident cases to 3,290.

HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 1,738 resident hospitalizations and 385 resident deaths, with five new hospitalizations and one new recent Alaska resident death reported.  The person who died was a male Anchorage resident in his 60s. 

One new recent nonresident death in Anchorage was also reported of a male in his 70s.  

Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones.

There are currently 101 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and three additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 104 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Twenty of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 9.3%.

TESTING – A total of 2,522,348 tests have been conducted, with 26,785 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 6.01%.

Variants of concern situation summary

Alpha (B.1.1.7) – 23 added since last report

• Proportion is appreciably declining. To date, we have detected 439 cases across the state.   

Gamma (P.1) – 2 added since last report

• To date, we have detected 73 cases across the state.

Delta (B.1.617.2-like) – 178 added since last report

• To date, we have detected 429 cases in multiple locations across the state. Accounts for almost all newly detected cases

As of Aug. 3, the total number of Alpha (B.1.1.7) cases is 439; Gamma (P.1) cases is 73; and Delta (B.1.617.2-like) cases is 429.  The weekly genomic surveillance report is online at:  http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/siteassets/pages/humancov/AKSeqCon_GenomicSituationReport.pdf.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 32 cases per 100,000. All eleven regions of Alaska are in high alert status with widespread community transmission; no regions are at intermediate or low alert status.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 80.20 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 51.00 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 48.60 cases per 100,000
• YK-Delta Region: 38.00 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 34.10 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 34.00 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 33.10 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 32.80 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 24.00 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 19.50 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 14.00 cases per 100,000

Intermediate (>5-10 cases/100,000)

Low (0-5 cases/100,000)

NOTE – Next week we will transition from a three-level alert system to a four-level  system to better align with CDC’s reporting levels. The changes should provide more locally relevant information as well.   More specifics on these changes will be provided in upcoming data summaries.

 

 

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.