Tracking COVID-19 in Alaska: State reports declining cases and hospitalizations compared to previous week

There were 65 people with COVID-19, including one person on a ventilator, hospitalized in Alaska as of Wednesday, according to the state health department.

Here are other highlights from this week’s updated COVID-19 data from the Alaska Department of Health:

• The hospitalizations reported Wednesday were down from the previous week, when 74 people were hospitalized with the virus.

• The state health department reported 21 more resident COVID-19 deaths, after a standard review of death certificates. All but one of those deaths occurred this summer, between May and July, the department said. One occurred in February.

• Those deaths included: eight residents of Anchorage, three people from Wasilla, two from Fairbanks, and one each from Juneau, Ketchikan, Kotzebue, Palmer, Sitka, Soldotna, Valdez and a small community in the Aleutians West Census Area. Eight were in their 80s or older, seven were in their 70s, four were in their 60s, one was in their 50s and one was in their 30s.

• In Alaska, 2,553 new cases were reported over a seven-day period, a decrease from 3,284 cases reported last week. That data doesn’t include at-home tests, which have become increasingly popular but don’t get reported.

• Alaska’s seven-day case rate per 100,000 now ranks 2nd-highest among U.S. states, according to a CDC tracker.

• Statewide, 67.6% of Alaskans six months and older had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

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