State reports 66 new cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths

Alaska reported 66 new cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths on Tuesday as Anchorage continued to make up the bulk of new cases.

Throughout July, Alaska’s active COVID-19 cases sprung upward amid multiple large outbreaks in the seafood industry. Meanwhile, the state’s most populous city saw cases soar, prompting new restrictions on Anchorage businesses and gatherings to help slow spread there.

Tuesday’s numbers come in lower than has been typical in recent weeks, where daily case counts often reached past 100. The state’s epidemic curve stayed flat for part of April and much of May, as case counts numbered in the single digits, before they began increasing again in June and July.

No new deaths were reported in the state’s database by Tuesday. Twenty five Alaskans have died with the virus since the pandemic began.

There were 27 people with COVID-19 in the hospital by the end of Monday, including one new hospitalization, state data showed. An additional six other people were hospitalized and considered “persons under investigation,” meaning they had symptoms of the virus but had not tested positive.

Many of the new cases Tuesday were among Anchorage residents, including 40 cases in people from Anchorage, two in nonresidents and two in Eagle River residents. There were 1,376 cases among residents in the municipality by the end of Monday.

Statewide, there were 2,941 active cases of the virus by Tuesday — 2,382 among Alaska residents and 559 among nonresidents. That’s almost 600 more active cases than a week ago.

The rest of the new cases reported Tuesday dot the state, including two resident cases and one nonresident case in the mining industry in Fairbanks, one in North Pole, as well as another case in a smaller community in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.

In the Mat-Su, there were two cases in people from Palmer, two in people from Wasilla and two cases in smaller communities in the borough.

There was also one case each reported in Utqiagvik, Juneau, Hooper Bay, Ketchikan and the Aleutians East Borough as well as two cases in the Nome Census Area. In addition, the state reported two nonresident cases among seafood workers in Seward and two in unknown parts of the state.