Most deaths were identified during a death certificate review, while only one occurred recently, according to the state health department. The recent death involved a woman from the North Pole who was in her 70s.
Wednesday’s count marked the highest number of deaths reported by the state in a single day since the pandemic began. The previous record occurred on December 12, when 18 deaths were recorded, including five that occurred recently.
The deaths identified during the certificate review involved a North Pole man in his 80s; two women from the Bethel Census Area in their 70s; two Wasilla men in their 60s; a Wasilla man in his 40s; a Palmer woman in her 80s; a Palmer man in his 60s; an Eagle River man in his 60s; three men from Anchorage in their 80s; two men from Anchorage in their 70s; three Anchorage women in their 70s; a woman in Anchorage in her 60s; a Kenai man in his 70s; a Homer woman in her 60s; a Kodiak man in his 70s; a Kodiak woman in her 60s; and a woman from a small community on Kodiak Island Borough, who was in her 60s.
The state health department also said that a resident’s death was removed from the state count after a final review of the death certificate, and another resident’s death was reclassified as a non-resident’s death.
Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief physician, urged Alaskans to not let their guard down during a public call on Wednesday, noting the growing death toll in Alaska and across the country.
“We are reaching this milestone in our country, with more than 400,000 deaths,” she said. “And it is just a reminder that, although we can see the trail that comes out of the forest … we are not there yet.”
In total, 251 Alaskans and two non-residents in the state with COVID-19 have died since the pandemic hit the state in March.
Alaska’s per capita mortality rate remains among the lowest in the country, although the size of the state and the vulnerable health system complicate national comparisons.
Wednesday’s case count continues a sharp downward trend in the number of infections and hospitalizations last month, which followed an increase in November and early December.
As of Wednesday, there were 55 people with COVID-19 in hospitals across the state and two more patients suspected of having the virus. Hospitalizations are now less than half what they were during the peak in November and December.
Vaccines arrived in the state in December, and by Wednesday, at least 59,392 people had received their first dose, according to the state’s vaccine monitoring panel. More than 13,000 people received the second dose.
According to a national tracker, on Wednesday, Alaska had vaccinated a greater percentage of its total population than any other state.
Health professionals, nursing home workers and residents were the first group to receive vaccines. Earlier this month, the state opened vaccines for adults over the age of 65, although appointments are limited and filled quickly, and overall vaccine distribution has been slower than authorities initially expected.
The state does not yet know how many doses of the vaccine it will receive in February, but the priority remains the vaccination of adults 65 and older, who are particularly vulnerable to serious illness and death from the virus, state health officials said on Wednesday. -market.
For more information on vaccination appointments, visit covidvax.alaska.gov or call 907-646-3322 and leave a message. A recording says that calls will be returned in the order they were received within 48 hours, but some users have reported longer delays.
Of the 157 cases reported in Alaskan residents on Wednesday, there were 49 in Anchorage plus six in Eagle River; three in Homer; two in Kenai; four in Soldotna; three in Kodiak; one in Córdoba; 20 in Fairbanks; six at the North Pole; one on Big Lake; eight in Palmer; one in Sutton-Alpine; 22 in Wasilla; one in Willow; two at Juneau; one in Unalaska; one at Bethel; and one in Dillingham.
Among communities with populations under 1,000 unidentified to protect privacy, there was one in the southern Kenai Borough Peninsula; one at Fairbanks North Star Borough; three in the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area; one in the Matanuska-Susitna neighborhood; three at North Slope Borough; four in the Bethel Census Area; one in the Dillingham census area; and 11 in the Kusilvak Census Area.
Ten non-residents tested positive for the virus, including two in Anchorage, one in Seward, one in Wasilla, one in Unalaska and five in an unidentified region of the state.
As of Tuesday, there were 58 people with COVID-19 in hospitals across the state and three more patients suspected of having the virus. Hospitalizations are now less than half where they were during the peak in November and December.
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.
Across the state, 3.77% of the COVID-19 tests performed in the past two weeks were positive.
[Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the state reported 24 virus-related deaths Wednesday but removed an earlier resident death after a death certificate review and reclassified a previous resident death as a nonresident death.]