Tracking COVID-19 in Alaska: State reports new death and 53 new cases statewide

The state reported the death of an Alaskan with COVID-19 on Wednesday and 53 new cases of the virus around the state, all but one in residents.

The person who died was an Anchorage woman in her 40s, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. No additional information was available.

Her death marked the fifth identified in a two-day period. The state on Tuesday announced four deaths, two in people who died some weeks ago, and two more recently, the highest daily death count reported since the pandemic began here in March. A total of 37 Alaskans have died with the virus.

State health officials on Wednesday also confirmed the recent death of an Anchorage Pioneer Home resident. A total of 14 residents and four staff members have tested positive in an outbreak first detected in early August. Two residents have been hospitalized.

There were 39 people hospitalized with COVID-19 and five other hospital patients awaiting test results by Wednesday, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard. Alaska has 153 intensive care unit beds, which are used for the state’s sickest patients, and state data showed that 94 were in use as of Wednesday.

Alaska also reported 53 new cases of COVID-19 around the state on Wednesday.

Active COVID-19 infections among Alaska residents declined from 3,028 Tuesday to 2,959 in Wednesday’s report. That count began dropping for the first time in several weeks last week. The number of active nonresident cases remained at 635.

In total, 4,895 Alaska residents and 824 nonresidents have tested positive for COVID-19 since March.

Twenty-six of the new cases reported Wednesday involved Anchorage residents.

The state reported another 26 cases among residents from elsewhere in Alaska: two in Soldotna; 10 in Fairbanks; four in Palmer, one in Sutton-Alpine, and two in Wasilla; one in Utqiagvik; and one in Unalaska. Among smaller communities in the state, there was one in the southern Kenai Peninsula Borough; two in Northwest Arctic Borough; and two in Yakutat plus Hoonah-Angoon.

The state also reported one nonresident case in a Juneau mining worker.

Of the new cases reported Wednesday, it wasn’t clear how many patients were showing symptoms of the virus when they tested positive.

The state’s testing positivity rate reported Tuesday was 2.14% over a seven-day rolling average. There have been 334,804 tests performed in Alaska, which can include multiple tests on one person.

-- Zaz Hollander

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