Alaska COVID-19 Data Summary: Dec. 17, 2021

COVID-19 DATA SUMMARY – Dec. 17, 2021

Reporting data for 12 a.m. - 11:59 p.m. Dec. 15-16, 2021

OVERVIEW – 408 new cases | 57 deaths | 67 hospitalizations | Statewide alert level: high | 60% 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 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 – 67.1% of Alaskans age 5 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose.

60% 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: 77.1%
• YK-Delta Region: 72.7%
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 72%
• Southwest Region: 67.1%
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 64.2%
• Anchorage Region: 61.4%
• Northwest Region: 58.6%
• Other Interior Region: 57%
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 49.2%
• Kenai Peninsula Region: 47.3%
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 40.1%

CASES – DHSS today announced 56 deaths of Alaska residents, one nonresident death and 408 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska.  

403 were residents of: Anchorage (127), Greater Wasilla Area (47), Ketchikan (27), Fairbanks (24), Juneau (15), Nome Census Area (13), Greater Palmer Area (12), North Pole (12), Sitka (12), Soldotna (10), Hooper Bay (9), Kusilvak Census Area (9), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (9), Northwest Arctic Borough ( 8 ), Eagle River ( 8 ), Homer (7), Bethel (6), Kodiak (6), Petersburg (5), Kenai (4), Kenai Peninsula Borough-North (4), Bethel Census Area (3), Copper River Census Area (3), Houston/Big Lake Area (3), Chugiak (2), Fairbanks North Star Borough (2), Haines (2), Nome (2), Utqiagvik (2), Valdez (2), and one each in Bristol Bay plus Lake and Peninsula, Cordova, Dillingham Census Area, Skagway, Yakutat plus Hoonah-Angoon, Dillingham, Petersburg Borough, and Prince Of Wales-Hyder Census Area.

5 nonresident cases were identified in:

• Anchorage: 2 with purpose under investigation
• Bethel: 1 with purpose under investigation
• Ketchikan: 2 with purpose under investigation

Two resident cases were subtracted and one nonresident case was added to the state's overall total due to data verification procedures, bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 149,173 and the total number of nonresident cases to 5,466.

HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 3,204 resident hospitalizations and 915 resident deaths. Forty-three new resident hospitalizations, 56 Alaska resident deaths and one nonresident death 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:

• Male Anchorage resident age 20-29
• Female Anchorage resident age 40-49
• Female Anchorage resident age 40-49
• Male Anchorage resident age 40-49
• Female Anchorage resident age 50-59
• Male Anchorage resident age 50-59
• Female Anchorage resident age 60-69
• Male Anchorage resident age 60-69
• Male Anchorage resident age 70-79
• Male Anchorage resident age 70-79
• Male Anchorage resident age 70-79
• Female Anchorage resident age 80+
• Female Anchorage resident age 80+
• Male Anchorage resident age 80+
• Male Anchorage resident age 80+
• Male Anchorage resident age 80+
• Male Anchorage resident age 80+
• Male Bethel Census Area resident age 70-79
• Male Cooper River Census Area resident age 80+
• Male Dillingham Census Area resident age 70-79
• Male Fairbanks resident age 60-69
• Male Fairbanks resident age 60-69
• Male Fairbanks resident age 70-79
• Male Homer resident age 30-39
• Male Juneau resident age 70-79
• Male Kenai resident age 40-49
• Male Kenai resident age 60-69
• Male Kenai resident age 60-69
• Male Kenai Peninsula Borough – South resident age 60-69
• Male Kenai Peninsula Borough – South resident age 70-79
• Male Nome Census Area resident age 60-69
• Female North Pole resident age 70-79
• Female North Pole resident age 80+
• Male North Slope Borough resident age 50-59
• Male Palmer resident age 60-69
• Male Palmer resident age 70-79
• Female Palmer resident age 80+
• Male Palmer resident age 80+
• Male Sitka resident age 80+
• Female Soldotna resident age 70-79
• Male Soldotna resident age 80+
• Male Soldotna resident age 80+
• Male Soldotna resident age 80+
• Male Southeast Fairbanks Census Area resident age 70-79
• Male Valdez resident age 40-49
• Female Wasilla resident age 50-59
• Male Wasilla resident age 50-59
• Male Wasilla resident age 50-59
• Female Wasilla resident age 60-69
• Male Wasilla resident age 60-69
• Male Wasilla resident age 60-69
• Male Wasilla resident age 60-69
• Female Wasilla resident age 70-79
• Male Wasilla resident age 70-79
• Male Wasilla resident age 70-79
• Male Wasilla resident age 80+

Our thoughts are with their family and loved ones.

NOTE: Today’s data summary includes a large batch of COVID-related deaths. One death was recent, while the rest were identified through death certificate review from August to November. Please know that our data team and Health Analytics and Vital Records Section (HAVRS) are diligently examining death certificate reviews to identify COVID-related deaths as we come back up to speed following the cyberattack. 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 67 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and five additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 72 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Ten of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 5.1%.

TESTING –A total of 3,633,575 tests have been conducted, with 27,371 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 3.25%.

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 158.9. For boroughs and census areas: 15 areas are at the high alert level (>100 cases), 4 areas are at the substantial alert level (50-99.99), 5 areas are at the moderate alert level (10-49.99) and 2 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.