Alaska reported 383 new coronavirus infections between Saturday and Monday, according to the Department of Health and Social Services. The state no longer updates its coronavirus panel over the weekend and instead includes that data in Monday’s report.
No new COVID-19-related deaths have been reported since Friday, when the state reported the death of an Anchorage resident. In total, 302 Alaskans and four non-residents with COVID-19 have died since the pandemic hit Alaska in March. Alaska’s per capita mortality rate is still among the lowest in the country, but the size of the state and the vulnerable health system complicate national comparisons.
On Monday, 187,069 people – about 26% of the total Alaskan population and a third of Alaskans aged 16 and over and therefore eligible for the vaccine – received at least their first vaccine injection, according to the vaccine monitoring panel of State. This is above the national average of 21% of the population. At least 128,435 people received both doses of the vaccine.
More than two-thirds of the elderly had received at least one dose, the state vaccine panel showed.
Although the case count and hospitalizations in Alaska remain well below what they were during the peak in November and December, the overall case decline has stabilized in recent weeks, and many regions of the state are still in the highest alert category based on rate of infection per capita.
Public health officials continue to encourage Alaskans to monitor personal virus mitigation efforts, such as washing their hands, wearing masks, socializing and testing if they are symptomatic or exposed to someone with COVID-19.
On Monday, there were 32 people with COVID-19 in hospitals across the state, well below a peak in late 2020. Another eight patients had pending test results.
Of the 372 cases identified among Alaskan residents since Friday, there were 103 in Anchorage, 80 in Wasilla, 24 in Eagle River, 21 in Fairbanks, 18 in Delta Junction, 18 in Palmer, 15 in Chugiak, 10 in Juneau, nine in North Pole, six in Ketchikan, six in Soldotna, five in Homer, five in Kenai, four in Kodiak, four in Petersburg, four in Willow, two in Utqiagvik, one in Anchor Point, one in Big Lake, one in Cordova, one in Girdwood, one in Healy, one in Kotzebue, one in Nome and one in Seward.
Among the smaller unnamed communities to protect individuals’ privacy, there were 17 in the Bethel census area, five in the Southeast Fairbanks census area, two in the northwest arctic district, one in the Copper River census area, one in the neighborhood from Fairbanks North Star, one from the Kenai peninsula neighborhood, one from the Ketchikan gateway neighborhood, one from the Kusilvak census area, and one from the Mat-Su neighborhood.
Eleven new cases of non-residents were also identified: three in Anchorage, two in the Yakutat plus Hoonah Angoon region, one in Fairbanks, one in Kenai, one in Kodiak, one in Wasilla, one in a smaller Southeast Fairbanks community and one in an unidentified region of the state.
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 performed across the state in the past week, 2.24% were positive.