Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Sept. 17, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020

DHSS today announced 113 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 109 are residents in twenty communities: Anchorage (48), Juneau (14), Fairbanks (11), Utqiaġvik (7), Wasilla (6), North Pole (4), Northwest Arctic Borough (4), Douglas (2), Palmer (2), and one each in Delta Junction, Dillingham, Nome Census Area, Haines, Homer, Kenai, Ketchikan, Kotzebue, Soldotna, and Wrangell.   

Four nonresident cases were reported.  One each in Utqiaġvik in tourism, Hoonah-Angoon- Yakutat combined in tourism, Prudhoe Bay in oil, and one in Kotzebue under investigation for purpose of visit.

Three resident cases and three non-resident cases were found to be merged duplicates.  One resident and one non-resident case were deleted for other reasons.     

This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 6,549 and the total number of nonresident cases to 921. The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate for the past 14 days, is high.

Of the 109 Alaska residents, 50 are male and 59 are female. Six are under the age of 10; five are aged 10-19; 32 are aged 20-29; 27 are aged 30-39; 17 are aged 40-49; 12 are aged 50-59; five are aged 60-69, three are aged 70-79, and two are aged 80 or older. 

There have been a total of 253 hospitalizations and 44 deaths with three new hospitalizations and no new deaths reported yesterday.

There are currently 34 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and seven additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 41 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 2,199 (Alaska residents). 

A total of 415,863  tests have been conducted, with 13,714 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 2.37%.

There have been no new cases in staff or residents in any of the Alaska Pioneer Homes for more than two weeks. Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau homes currently are not doing visitation due to the case rate numbers for their areas of the state. When the case rates decrease in these communities, we will hopefully be able to resume visitation. An elder from the Anchorage Pioneer Home who was hospitalized and positive for COVID-19 recently died. Our thoughts are with the person's family and loved ones. This brings the total number of residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 and died to three.

Notes: This report reflects data from 12 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on September 16 that posted at noon today on the Alaska Coronavirus Response 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. To view more data visit: data.coronavirus.alaska.gov