Alaska reports 159 new COVID-19 cases, with most concentrated in Anchorage

State health officials reported 159 new COVID-19 cases in Alaska on Sunday, including 111 in the Municipality of Anchorage.

The new cases include 145 in Alaska residents and 14 in non-residents, according to the Department of Health and Social Services’ coronavirus dashboard. One new hospitalization was reported, and there were no new deaths.

As of Sunday, 2,861 people in Alaska had active cases of COVID-19 and 1,099 people had recovered from the virus. In total, Alaska has had 3,280 confirmed cases since the pandemic began.

Of the new resident cases announced Sunday, there were 99 in Anchorage, seven in Wasilla, six each in Eagle River and Palmer, five cases in Chugiak, three each in Fairbanks, Wrangell and the Northwest Arctic Borough, two each in Homer and Cordova and one case each in Seward, Valdez, Juneau, Craig, Sitka, Bethel, the Yukon-Koyuk area, a place marked as “other” in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and a city listed by the state as “other” in the Prince of Wales-Hyder area.

Three non-residents in Kodiak contracted the virus, one in Anchorage and one in Fairbanks. The state classified nine of the non-resident cases as “unknown.”

Twenty-seven people with COVID-19 were hospitalized as of Sunday and there are 12 people in the hospital with test results for the virus pending. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 134 people with the virus required hospitalization at some point.

Twenty-four Alaska resident deaths have been tied to COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

[Alaska reports death of Anchorage man with virus and 151 new cases statewide]

Cases have sharply climbed in the last few months since Alaska began to reopen. Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz announced Friday that more restrictions will begin this week so the city can enter into a “four-week reset” in hopes of curbing the spread of COVID-19.

[Anchorage restaurants and bars face another round of COVID-19 restrictions]

Gov. Dunleavy tightened travel restrictions statewide last week. Starting Aug. 11, out-of-state visitors will be required to provide negative test results before entering Alaska. The new restrictions no longer allow visitors to opt to quarantine or test when they reach the state. The restriction comes as a response to tightened testing resources across the state as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to climb.

Officials have repeatedly voiced concerns that the growing case counts could overwhelm hospital beds. Just less than half of the state’s 163 intensive care unit beds were available as of Sunday. Roughly 60% of the state’s normal hospital beds were occupied Sunday.

[Coronavirus threat rises across U.S.: ‘We just have to assume the monster is everywhere]

[Because of a high volume of comments requiring moderation, we are temporarily disabling comments on many of our articles so editors can focus on the coronavirus crisis and other coverage. We invite you to write a letter to the editor or reach out directly if you’d like to communicate with us about a particular article. Thanks.]