Tracking COVID-19 in Alaska: 1 death, 204 new cases reported Wednesday

The state on Wednesday reported one death and 204 new cases of COVID-19, according to the Department of Health and Social Services COVID-19 dashboard.

The new death involved an Anchorage man in his 60s, according to the state health department. In total, 68 Alaskans have died with COVID-19 since the pandemic began here in March.

Statewide as of Wednesday, 41 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized. Of the 136 adult intensive care unit beds in Alaska, there were 34 available as of Wednesday, state data showed. ICU bed capacity can fluctuate often, the state’s chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink, said during a call with reporters last week.

“We know that we have limited health care capacity in the state of Alaska,” Zink said. “We’ve been saying that since the beginning.”

Of the new cases, it wasn’t clear how many patients were showing symptoms of the virus when they tested positive. While people might get tested more than once, each case reported by the state health department only represents one person.

The new case numbers did not appear to include the 78 Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta cases announced by the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. on Tuesday. That tally included multiple cases in villages around the region with as many as 51 cases alone reported in Chevak, a community of roughly 1,000 people.

[Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta contends with ‘dramatic surge in COVID-19’]

[She’s in her 20s, fit ... and facing serious COVID-19 complications months after she got sick]

Of the 204 new resident cases of COVID-19 reported by the state Wednesday, 133 were in Anchorage; two were in Chugiak; eight were in Eagle River; two were in Homer; four were in Kenai; one was in Seward; six were in Soldotna; two were in Sterling; one was in Kodiak; one was in Healy; two were in Fairbanks; one was in North Pole; two were in Delta Junction; one was in Palmer; 15 were in Wasilla; four were in Utqiagvik; one was in Kotzebue; three were in Juneau; one was in Ketchikan; one was in Sitka; one was in Skagway; and one was in Dillingham.

Among communities smaller than 1,000 not identified to protect confidentiality, there were two in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area; one in the Fairbanks North Star Borough; three in the Nome Census Area; one in the combined Yakutat and Hoonah-Angoon region; one in the Bethel Census Area; and three in the combined Bristol Bay and Lake and Peninsula boroughs.

There were no new nonresident cases reported Wednesday.

The state’s testing positivity rate as of Wednesday was 4.61% over a seven-day rolling average.

— Morgan Krakow