Tracking COVID-19 in Alaska: 3 deaths and 284 new cases reported on Tuesday

Alaska reported 284 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and three new deaths, according to the state Department of Health and Social Services.

State data showed all three deaths involved Anchorage residents.

In total, 178 Alaskans and one nonresident with COVID-19 have died since the pandemic began here in March. Alaska’s overall death rate per capita is among the lowest in the country, but officials say it’s difficult to compare Alaska to other states because of its vast geography and vulnerable health care system.

By Tuesday, there were 133 people with COVID-19 hospitalized statewide and another seven people in hospitals who were suspected to have the virus. In total, 14.6% of people hospitalized in Alaska had COVID-19.

Throughout the state there were 38 staffed adult intensive care unit beds left open. In Anchorage, where the state’s sickest patients often end up, only three of 72 intensive care unit beds were available.

While stretched hospital staffing has remained a significant concern, Anchorage Health Department director Heather Harris said in a recent media briefing that hospitals do have the capacity to shift their staffing around if they run out of ICU beds.

[‘The beginning of the end of the suffering’: Some of Alaska’s first COVID-19 vaccinations given Tuesday]

New virus cases, hospitalizations and deaths have been on the rise statewide for weeks, but Tuesday’s daily case count was the lowest Alaska has seen since Oct. 23, when 239 cases were recorded. The new low came two weeks after Anchorage entered a month-long, modified version of a hunker-down aimed at bringing case counts down and protecting hospital capacity.

Meanwhile, thousands of the first doses of a vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech have arrived in Alaska. The doses will be distributed first to hospital-based front-line health care workers followed by staff and residents of long-term care facilities beginning this week. Next up will be EMS and fire personnel providing medical services, community health aides and practitioners and people required to perform vaccinations.

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday also endorsed another COVID-19 vaccine developed by the drug company Moderna.

It is unclear exactly when the general public will have access to a vaccine, but likely late spring or summer, health officials have said.

“We see light at the end of tunnel,” said Gov. Mike Dunleavy, at a briefing on Tuesday. “These vaccines are going to be a game-changer.”

Dunleavy said that he plans on getting vaccinated.

[Alaska’s first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Anchorage]

Of the 277 new cases reported in Alaska residents Tuesday, there were 125 in Anchorage, plus four in Chugiak and two in Eagle River; two in Homer; four in Kenai; one in Nikiski; one in Seward; one in Soldotna; one in Sterling; 24 in Kodiak; 17 in Fairbanks, plus nine in North Pole; two in Delta Junction; one in Tok; two in Big Lake; eight in Palmer; 24 in Wasilla; 10 in Utqiagvik; one in Douglas; nine in Juneau; one in Ketchikan; five in Sitka; one in Skagway; two in Bethel; one in Dillingham; and one in Hooper Bay.

Among communities smaller than 1,000 people not named to protect privacy, there were two in the Cordova Census Area; one in the Fairbanks North Star Borough; one in the Nome Census Area; two in the North Slope Borough; two in the Bethel Census Area; one in Bristol Bay plus Lake and Peninsula area; and nine in the Kusilvak Census Area.

Of the seven new cases reported in nonresidents, there were five in Anchorage and two in an unidentified region of the state.

While people might get tested more than once, each case reported by the state health department represents only one person.

It is not clear how many of the people who tested positive were showing symptoms. The CDC estimates about a third of people with coronavirus infections are asymptomatic.

The statewide test positivity rate was 6.14% over the last week, after reaching a peak of over 9% in mid-November. Health officials said that a positivity rate above 5% can indicate widespread community transmission.

—Annie Berman