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

COVID-19 DATA SUMMARY – Nov. 19, 2021

Reporting data for 12 a.m. - 11:59 p.m. Nov. 18, 2021

OVERVIEW – 526 new cases | 20 deaths | 136 hospitalizations | Statewide alert level: high 55% 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 – 60% of Alaskans age 5 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose.

55% 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: 74%
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 70%
• YK-Delta Region: 67%
• Southwest Region: 65%
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 62%
• Anchorage Region: 59%
• Northwest Region: 55%
• Other Interior Region: 55%
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 47%
• Kenai Peninsula Region: 46%
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 39%

CASES – DHSS today announced 20 deaths of Alaska residents and 526 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska.  

517 were residents of:  Anchorage (117), Greater Wasilla Area (54), Fairbanks (38), Juneau (34), Ketchikan (29), Bethel Census Area (24 in 8 communities), Kenai (23), Bethel (19), Eagle River (18), Nome (18), Kotzebue (16), Petersburg (13), Greater Palmer Area (12), North Pole (12), Nome Census Area (11 in 4 communities), Cordova (6), Houston/ Big Lake Area (6), Soldotna (6), Copper River Census Area (5 in 2 communities), NW Arctic Borough (5 in 2 communities), Willow (5), Chugiak (4), Denali Borough (4 in 2 communities), Hooper Bay (3), Kusilvak Census Area (3 in 2 communities), Utqiagvik (3), Wrangell (3), Bristol Bay/ Lake and Peninsula combined (2), Girdwood (2), Kenai Peninsula Borough- North (2 in 2 communities), Kodiak (2), North Slope Borough (2 in 2 communities), Sitka (2), Sterling (2), and one each in Chevak, Dillingham, Dillingham Census Area, Homer, Hoonah-Angoon and Yakutat combined, Kenai Peninsula Borough- South, Metlatkatla, Nikiski, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Sutton/Alpine, Valdez, and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.

9 nonresident cases were identified in:

• Anchorage: 3 with purposes under investigation
• Juneau: 2 with purposes under investigation
• Fairbanks: 1 with purpose under investigation
• Palmer: 1 with purpose under investigation
• Ketchikan: 1 with purpose under investigation
• Location under investigation: 1 with purpose under investigation

Three resident cases were subtracted from the cases dashboard due to data verification procedures bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 142,717 and the total number of nonresident cases to 5,366.

HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 3,000 resident hospitalizations and 832 resident deaths. 30 new resident hospitalizations and 20 Alaska resident 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 Alaska residents who died were:

• A male resident of Utqiagvik in his 70s
• A female resident of Fairbanks age 80+
• A female resident of Fairbanks in her 70s
• A female resident of Palmer age 80+
• A female resident of Palmer in her 70s
• A male resident of Palmer in his 50s
• A male resident of Palmer in his 50s
• A female resident of Wasilla age 80+
• A male resident of Wasilla age 80+
• A female resident of Wasilla in her 70s
• A female resident of Wasilla in her 70s
• A female resident of Wasilla in his 60s
• A male resident of Wasilla in his 60s
• A male resident of Houston/Big Lake in his 50s
• A female resident of Anchorage age 80+
• A male resident of Anchorage in his 70s
• A male resident of Anchorage in his 70s
• A male resident of Anchorage in his 60s
• A male resident of the Dillingham Census Area age 80+
• A male resident of Ketchikan in his 50s

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 April through October, with the most fatalities in October.  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 136 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and one additional patient who is considered a person under investigation (PUI) for a total of 137 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Eighteen of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 11.1%.

TESTING – A total of 3,472,086 tests have been conducted, with 35,174 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 6.64%.

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 397.6.  For boroughs and census areas: 25 areas are at the high alert level (>100 cases), one area is at the substantial alert level (50-99.99), one area is at the moderate alert level (10-49.99) and one area is 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.