Tracking COVID-19 in Alaska: 512 new cases reported Sunday, with record hospitalizations

Alaska public-health officials reported 512 new COVID-19 cases Sunday and no new deaths. The state reached a record-high number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients following a week of concern from officials about health care capacity.

Sunday’s case count marks the fourth time since the pandemic began in Alaska that daily case counts have surpassed 500. Saturday brought Alaska’s highest daily number of of new COVID-19 infections with 604 reported cases.

By Sunday, there were 100 people with COVID-19 in Alaska hospitals, surpassing the previous high of 97 patients that was recorded Friday. Seven COVID-19 patients were on ventilators by Sunday, and there were 19 additional people in hospitals who were suspected of having COVID-19, according to the Department of Health and Social Services COVID-19 dashboard.

Case counts in Alaska continued to surge throughout the last few weeks, and officials warned recently that while beds remained available, there is concern over increasingly strained health care staffing.

Anchorage officials announced tightened restrictions on mask wearing and the size of gatherings last week. Gov. Mike Dunleavy asked Alaskans on Saturday to take the virus seriously and follow guidance from health officials to stop the virus from spreading. Dunleavy said it is important to control the virus' spread because a vaccine likely won’t be available for some time.

Dunleavy extended the state’s emergency disaster declaration on Saturday after several hospital and public health officials voiced concern over the possibility of the declaration expiring Nov. 15.

In total, 84 Alaskans with the virus have died since the start of the pandemic, and Alaska’s overall death rate per capita remains among the lowest in the country.

Of the 510 cases in residents reported by the state Sunday, 271 were in Anchorage, one in Chugiak and 14 in Eagle River; two were in Anchor Point, three in Homer, 24 in Kenai, three in Seward, 19 in Soldotna and two in Sterling; six were in Kodiak, one in Cordova and one in Valdez; 21 were in Fairbanks and six in North Pole; three were in Delta Junction; two were in Big Lake, nine in Palmer, 32 in Wasilla and three in Willow; five were in Utqiagvik; two were in Kotzebue; three were in Juneau; 16 were in Ketchikan; one was in Craig and one in Metlakatla; one was in Sitka; 11 were in Bethel; two were in Dillingham; and seven were in Chevak. The state reported that two cases were identified in unknown regions.

[Anchorage updated its COVID-19 emergency orders. Here’s what changed.]

Among communities smaller than 1,000 people that are not named to protect privacy, there were four cases in the South Kenai Peninsula Borough; two in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area; one in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area; two in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough; two in the Nome Census Area; two in the North Slope Borough; one in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough; one in the Yakutat plus Hoonah Angoon area; 17 in the Bethel Census Area; one in the Bristol Bay plus Lake and Peninsula boroughs; one in the Dillingham Census Area; and two in the Kusilvak Census Area.

Two nonresident cases in Anchorage was reported Sunday, the state said.

Of the new cases, it is not reported 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 state’s testing positivity as of Sunday was 6.8% over a seven-day rolling average. A positivity rate over 5% can indicate high community transmission and not enough testing, health officials have said.

All areas of the state are now in high alert for continued community spread, the state said. Community spread in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region is the highest in the state. On Saturday, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Center reported that an employee at the Long Term Care Center tested positive for COVID-19. The employee does not work directly with patients and there will be facility-wide testing every three days until risk of transmission has decreased, the health center wrote in a statement.

— Tess Williams

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