• Alaska on Wednesday reported 936 cases of COVID-19 over the past five days.
• No new deaths were reported. In total, 1,195 COVID-19 deaths among Alaska residents and 33 among nonresidents have been reported since March 2020. Many of the deaths being reported by the state in recent weeks occurred weeks to months earlier.
• This week, the state health department shifted to updating all of its COVID-19 data on Wednesdays only instead of updating most dashboards three times a week. The department has said that “this change is part of our transition toward longer-term data reporting.”
• Even though cases have declined from an omicron-driven surge this winter, Alaska’s seven-day new case rate per 100,000 people is still the highest in the nation, according to a CDC tracker. State data showed a 6% increase in cases reported last week compared to the week before.
• By Wednesday, there were 26 COVID-positive patients hospitalized statewide — down nine from Friday. Just 2.1% of Alaska’s hospital patients were COVID-positive. One was on a ventilator.
• According to Alaska’s coronavirus variant dashboard, the majority — about 64.6% — of the most recently sequenced viruses, from specimens collected in mid-March, were the BA.2 “stealth” omicron subvariant. BA.2 appears to be more transmissible than other variants but not more virulent, and does not seem to be better at evading immune responses conferred by vaccination or prior infection. Health officials around the world are watching BA.2 closely.
• As of Wednesday, 64.5% of eligible Alaskans as well as military personnel had completed their primary vaccine series.
• Last week, the FDA approved another Pfizer or Moderna booster shot for those 50 and older, as well as for certain younger individuals with severely compromised immune systems, if it’s been at least four months since their last vaccination. Information about getting a vaccine shot or booster in Alaska is available at covidvax.alaska.gov.