Alaska COVID-19 Data Summary: August 5, 2021

COVID-19 DATA SUMMARY – August 5, 2021

Reporting data for 12 a.m. - 11:59 p.m. Aug. 4

OVERVIEW – 382 new cases | 5 deaths | 98 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 – 58.2% 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: 70.2%
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 68.9%
• Southwest Region: 63.4%
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 62%
• Northwest Region: 57.1%
• Anchorage Region: 54.6%
• Other Interior Region: 53.7%
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 46.6%
• Kenai Peninsula Region: 44.7%
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 36.9%

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

CASES – DHSS today announced five deaths of Alaska residents and 382 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska yesterday. 351 were residents in:  Homer (82), Anchorage (69), Wasilla (20), Kodiak (18), Nome Census Area (18), Kenai (16), Fairbanks (15), Anchor Point (14), North Pole (12), Palmer (11), Soldotna (10), Eagle River (9), Valdez (7), Juneau (6), Cordova (5), Kenai Peninsula Borough - South (4), Copper River Census Area (3), Seward (3), Sitka (3), Yukon Koyukuk Census Area (3), Aleutians East Borough (2), Chugiak (2), Denali Borough (2), Kenai Peninsula Borough - North (2), Ketchikan (2), Sterling (2), Utqiaġvik (2), and one each in Bethel, Bethel Census Area, Big Lake, Douglas, Fritz Creek, Girdwood, North Slope Borough, Northwest Arctic Borough, and Southeast Fairbanks Census Area. 

Note:  The high number of cases in Homer reflects recent cases that have been added to the data hub after a test result processing delay was identified and resolved. There was no delay in communicating the test results to the individuals who tested positive.

31 new nonresident cases were identified in:

• Homer: 8 with purposes under investigation
• Fairbanks: 4 with purposes under investigation
• Anchorage: 3 with purposes under investigation
• Ketchikan: 2 with purposes under investigation
• Delta Junction: 1 with purpose under investigation
• Juneau: 1 with purpose tourism
• Kenai: 1 with purpose under investigation
• Kenai Peninsula Borough - South - 1 with purpose under investigation
• Skagway: 1 with purpose under investigation
• Soldotna: 1 with purpose under investigation
• Valdez: 1 with purpose under investigation 
• Location under investigation: 7 with purposes under investigation

Four resident cases have been subtracted from and one nonresident cased added to the dashboard due to data verification procedures bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 73,931 and the total number of nonresident cases to 3,322.

HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 1,742 resident hospitalizations and 390 resident deaths, with four new hospitalizations and five Alaska resident deaths reported.  The persons who died in May were identified following death certificate reviews: 

• Fairbanks female resident age 80+
• Anchorage male resident age 80+
• Anchorage female resident in her 70s
• Matanuska-Susitna Borough female resident in her 70s
• Palmer male resident in his 70s 

Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones.

There are currently 98 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and five additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 103 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Seventeen of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 9.0%.

TESTING – A total of 2,530,710 tests have been conducted, with 28,333 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 6.35%.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 33.6 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: 67.60 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 62.70 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 55.30 cases per 100,000
• YK-Delta Region: 37.20 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 36.60 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 34.70 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 34.30 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 31.50 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 29.80 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 21.10 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 14.90 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.