Alaska COVID-19 Data Summary: Nov. 8, 2021

COVID-19 DATA SUMMARY – Nov. 8, 2021

Reporting data for 12 a.m. - 11:59 p.m. Nov. 5-7, 2021

OVERVIEW – 1,387 new cases | 53 deaths | 139 hospitalizations | Statewide alert level: high 54% of Alaskans 5+ vaccinated

TAKE ACTION – Choosing to get vaccinated is the single most important action you can take to protect yourself and your community and to keep our economy strong. Learn more about the vaccines at covidvax.alaska.gov and the CDC’s recommendations for fully vaccinated people at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html.  Vaccine is now available for ages 5 and older.  The rates listed below reflect the percentage of Alaskans age 5 and older reported as vaccinated.  

VACCINATIONS – 59% of Alaskans age 5 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose.

54% of Alaskans 5 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 ages 5 and older by region:

• Juneau Region: 73%
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 70%
• YK-Delta Region: 66%
• Southwest Region: 65%
• Anchorage Region: 64.1%
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 62%
• Northwest Region: 55%
• Other Interior Region: 55%
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 47%
• Kenai Peninsula Region: 45%
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 38%

CASES – DHSS today announced 50 deaths of Alaska residents, 3 deaths of nonresidents, and 1,387 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska.  

1,370 were residents of:  Anchorage (425), Greater Wasilla Area (147), Fairbanks (108), Nome Census Area (79 in 7 communities) , Greater Palmer Area (60), Eagle River (59), North Pole  (40), Kotzebue (33), Soldotna  (31),  Bethel Census Area (25 in 10 communities), Nome (25), Chugiak (24), Juneau (23), NW Arctic Borough (23 in 5 communities), Kenai (22), Homer (21), Ketchikan (21), Kodiak  (19), Petersburg (18), Metlakatla  (14), Bethel (11), Delta Junction (9), Utqiaġvik (9), Bristol Bay/ Lake and Peninsula Combined (8 in 4 communities), Houston/ Big Lake Area ( 8 ), Anchor Point  (7), North Slope Borough (7), Willow (7), Copper River Census Area (6 in 2 communities), Kenai Peninsula Borough- North (6 in 3 communities), Kenai Peninsula Borough- South (6), Valdez (6), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (6 in 2 communities), Hoonah-Angoon and Yakutat combined (4 in 2 communities), Kusilvak Census Area (4 in 2 communities), Seward (4), Cordova (3), Haines (3), Healy (3), Ketchikan Gateway Borough (3 in 2 communities), Mat-Su Borough (3), Nikiski  (3), Sterling  (3), Tok  (3), Wrangell (3), Aleutians East Borough (2), Fairbanks North Star Borough (2), Kodiak Island Borough (2), Prince Of Wales-Hyder Census Area (2), Sutton-Alpine (2), and one each in Chevak, Craig, Dillingham, Dillingham Census Area, Ester, Sitka, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, and Unalaska. 

17 nonresident cases were identified in:

• Anchorage: 5 with purposes under investigation
• Fairbanks: 4 with purposes under investigation
• Ketchikan: 2 with purposes under investigation
• Prudhoe Bay: 1 in North Slope oil industry
• Wasilla : 1 with purpose under investigation
• Palmer: 1 with purpose under investigation
• Locations under investigation: 3 with purposes under investigation

31 resident cases and one nonresident case were subtracted from the cases dashboard due to data verification procedures bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 138,161 and the total number of nonresident cases to 5,312.

HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 2,855 resident hospitalizations and 764 resident deaths. Nineteen new resident hospitalizations, 50 Alaska resident deaths, and three nonresident deaths were reported. Please see this webpage for more information on the process used to report COVID-19 deaths: dhss.alaska.gov/dph/epi/id/pages/covid-19/deathcounts.aspx.

The 50 Alaska residents who died were:

• Male resident of North Slope Borough age 80+
• Male resident of Northwest Arctic Borough in his 70s
• Male resident of Northwest Arctic Borough in his 50s died out of state
• Female resident of Yukon-Koyukuk in her 70s
• Female resident of Yukon-Koyukuk in her 60s
• Male resident of North Pole age 80+
• Female  resident of Fairbanks age 80+
• Male resident of Fairbanks in his 60s
• Male resident of Fairbanks in his 50s
• Male resident of Fairbanks in his 50s
• Male resident of Fairbanks in his 40s
• Male resident of Fairbanks in his 40s
• Female  resident of Anchorage age 80+
• Female resident of Anchorage age 80+
• Male resident of Anchorage age 80+
• Male resident of Anchorage age 80+
• Female  resident of Anchorage age 80+
• Male resident of Anchorage age 80+
• Male resident of Anchorage in his 70s
• Female resident of Anchorage in her 70s
• Female resident of Anchorage in her 70s
• Male resident of Anchorage in his 60s
• Male resident of Anchorage in his 60s
• Male resident of Anchorage in his 60s
• Male resident of Anchorage in his 60s
• Female resident of Anchorage in her 60s-69, died out of state
• Male resident of Anchorage in his 50s
• Female resident of Anchorage in her 50s
• Female resident of Anchorage in her 50s
• Male resident of Anchorage in his 50s
• Male resident of Anchorage in his 50s
• Male resident of Anchorage in his 40s
• Male resident of Anchorage in his 30s
• Male resident of Anchorage in his 30s
• Male resident of Anchorage in his 30s
• Female resident of Anchorage in her 20s
• Male resident of Wasilla in his 70s
• Male resident of Wasilla in his 60s
• Male resident of Wasilla in his 50s
• Female resident of Wasilla in her 50s
• Female resident of Palmer age 80+
• Female resident of Palmer age 80+
• Male resident of Palmer in his 50s
• Male resident of Big Lake in his 60s
• Male resident of Sutton-Alpine in his 70s
• Female resident of Kenai in her 70s
• Male resident of Valdez in his 60s
• Female resident of Ketchikan in her 70s
• Male resident of Ketchikan in his 50s
• Female resident of Unalaska in her 30s

The three nonresidents who died were:

• Male age 80+, diagnosed in Palmer
• Male in his 50s, diagnosed in Palmer
• Male in his 40s, diagnosed in Anchorage

Our thoughts are with their family and loved ones.

NOTE: Today’s data summary includes a large batch of COVID-related deaths. These deaths occurred from August through November, with the most fatalities in September.  DHSS diligently examines death certificate reviews to identify COVID-related deaths.  Please see this webpage for more information on the process used to report COVID-19 deaths: dhss.alaska.gov/dph/epi/id/pages/covid-19/deathcounts.aspx

There are currently 139 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and four additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 143 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Eighteen of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 12.5%.

TESTING – A total of 3,393,256 tests have been conducted, with 42,513 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 7.6%.

ALERT LEVELS - The current statewide alert level – based on the reported number of cases per 100,000 people over the past 7 days – is high (red) at 548.4. For boroughs and census areas: 25 areas are at the high alert level (>100 cases), no areas are at the substantial alert level (50-99.99), three areas are at the moderate alert level (10-49.99) and no areas are at the low alert level (0-9.99).

Find alert levels for individual boroughs and census areas using the alert levels map on the cases dashboard at www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/ddd52524412b41b690b82b5618735f9e

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. Alert levels are provided to show trends and patterns over time as there can be substantial day-to-day variation in reporting of cases to DHSS. Alert levels show how widespread the virus is in a community relative to its population size and are a good tool to determine weekly trends for specific geographic areas. 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.