Alaska reported 337 new coronavirus infections and no new COVID-19-related deaths between Saturday and Monday, according to the Department of Health and Social Services. The state no longer updates its coronavirus panel on weekends and instead includes weekend numbers in Monday’s report.
As of Monday, there were 27 people with COVID-19 in hospitals across the state, well below the peak in late 2020. Another five patients had pending test results.
The COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Alaska in mid-December. On Monday, 168,577 people – about 23% of Alaska’s total population – received at least their first vaccine injection, according to the state’s vaccine monitoring panel. This is above the national average of 17.7%.
Among Alaskans aged 16 and over, 30% received at least one dose of the vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine has been authorized for use in people aged 16 and over, and the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have been approved for use in people aged 18 and over. At least 117,861 people received both doses of the vaccine. Alaska currently vaccinated more residents per capita than any other state, according to a national tracker.
Health professionals, nursing home workers and residents were the first people prioritized to receive the vaccine. Alaskans over 65 became eligible in early January, and the state further expanded eligibility criteria in February to include educators, people aged 50 and over with a high-risk medical condition, essential frontline workers aged 50 and over and people who live or work in congregating environments such as shelters and prisons.
More recently, authorities added that essential workers and people with potentially high-risk health conditions aged 16 and over, as well as people who live in communities without water or sewage systems, live in multi-generational homes, help an elderly person to get vaccinated or are 55 and older are also eligible for the vaccine. In Anchorage, people 40 and older can also be vaccinated through the Southcentral Foundation.
Those eligible to receive the vaccine can visit covidvax.alaska.gov or call 907-646-3322 to apply and confirm eligibility. The telephone line is open from 9 am to 6:30 pm during the week and from 9 am to 4:30 pm on weekends.
Despite the lower case numbers, most Alaskan regions are still in the highest alert category based on the current rate of infection per capita, and public health officials continue to encourage Alaskans to monitor personal efforts to virus mitigation, such as hand washing, masks. social wear and tear. A highly contagious variant of the virus in the UK arrived in Alaska in December, while a separate variant originating in Brazil was found in the state last month. Scientists in Alaska last month announced the discovery of 10 cases of a new strain of coronavirus first discovered in California.
Of the 323 cases identified in Alaskan residents in the past three days, there were 119 cases in Anchorage, six more in Chugiak, 22 in Eagle River and one in Girdwood; 68 in Wasilla; 31 in Fairbanks plus eight at the North Pole; 31 in Palmer; four at Delta Junction; four in Soldotna; three in Kotzebue; two at Bethel; two in Homer; two at Juneau; two in Unalaska; one on Big Lake; one in Cordoba; one in Esther; one in Houston; one in Petersburg; one in Sitka; one in Utqiagvik; and one in Willow.
Among communities under 1,000 that were not named to protect individuals’ privacy, there were three in the Copper River Census Area; two in the north of the Kenai Borough Peninsula; one in the Bethel Census Area; one in the Kusilvak census area; one in the Mat-Su neighborhood; one at North Slope Borough; and one in the Southeast Fairbanks census area.
There were also 14 new cases of non-residents: 11 in Anchorage, two in Wasilla and one in Prudhoe Bay.
Although people can be tested more than once, each case reported by the state health department represents only one person.
State data does not specify whether people who test positive for COVID-19 have symptoms. More than half of the country’s infections are transmitted by asymptomatic people, according to CDC estimates.
Of all tests carried out last week, 2.04% were positive. Health officials said that a test positivity rate above 5% may indicate high rates of spread across the community and the failure to carry out sufficient tests.