Alaska reports 1,290 COVID-19 cases over a 7-day period as hospitalizations remain low

• On Wednesday, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services reported 1,290 cases of COVID-19 in Alaska over the prior seven days. That averages to around 184 cases per day.

• The state also reported seven more deaths linked to the virus. In total, 1,202 COVID-19 deaths among Alaska residents and 33 among nonresidents have been reported since March 2020. Many of the deaths reported by the state in recent weeks occurred weeks to months earlier.

• Last 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.

[CDC extends travel mask mandate to May 3 as COVID infections start to rise]

• Cases have declined from an omicron-driven surge over the winter. Alaska’s seven-day new case rate per 100,000 people fell this week to the sixth-highest in the nation, according to a CDC tracker. State data showed an 11% decrease in cases reported last week compared to the week before. This data does not include at-home tests.

• By Wednesday, there were 26 COVID-positive patients hospitalized statewide, the same as last week. About 2% of Alaska’s hospital patients were COVID-positive. Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage over the weekend celebrated zero COVID-19 patients for the first time since April 2020.

• According to Alaska’s coronavirus variant dashboard, about two-thirds 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 or better at evading immune responses conferred by vaccination or prior infection.

• As of Wednesday, 64.6% of eligible Alaskans as well as military personnel had completed their primary vaccine series.

• The FDA recently 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.