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Most of the deaths were identified during a standard examination of the death certificate, while only one occurred recently, according to the state health department. The recent death involved a woman from the North Pole who was 70 years old.
Wednesday’s tally marked the highest number of deaths reported by the state in a single day since the start of the pandemic. The previous record came on December 12, when 18 deaths were recorded, including five recently.
The deaths identified during examination of the certificate involved an 80-year-old man from the North Pole; two women from the Bethel census area in their 60s; two men from Wasilla in their sixties; a man from Wasilla in his forties; a Palmer woman in her 80s; a Palmer man in his sixties; an Eagle River man in his sixties; three Anchorage men in their 80s; two men from Anchorage in their 70s; three women from Anchorage in their 70s; an Anchorage woman in her sixties; a Kenai man in his sixties; a Homer woman in her sixties; a Kodiak man in his 70s; a Kodiak woman in her sixties; and a woman from a small community in the Borough of Kodiak Island who was in her sixties.
The state health department also said that one resident death was removed from the state tally following a final review of the death certificate, and another resident death was reclassified as death of a non-resident.
Alaskan Chief Medical Officer Dr Anne Zink urged Alaskans not to let their guard down during a public appeal Wednesday, noting the rising death toll in Alaska and across the country .
“We are reaching this important milestone in our country with more than 400,000 dead,” she said. “And it’s just a reminder that even though we can see the trail out of the forest … we’re not there yet.”
A total of 251 Alaskans and two non-residents of the state with COVID-19 have died since the pandemic reached the state in March.
Alaska’s per capita death rate remains among the lowest in the country, although the size of the state and vulnerable health care system complicate national comparisons.
Wednesday’s case count continues a downward trend in the number of infections and hospitalizations over the past month, which followed a surge in November and early December.
Wednesday there were 55 people with COVID-19 in hospitals across the state and two other patients suspected of having the virus. Hospitalizations are now less than half of what they were during the peak in November and December.
The vaccines first arrived in the state in December and as of Wednesday at least 59,392 people had received the first dose, according to the state’s Vaccine Monitoring Dashboard. More than 13,000 people had received the second dose.
Alaska had vaccinated a higher percentage of its total population than any other state, according to a national tracker on Wednesday.
Health care workers, nursing home staff and residents were the first group to receive the vaccinations. Earlier this month, the state opened up vaccines to adults over the age of 65, although appointment windows were limited and filled up quickly, and the overall vaccine rollout was slower than this. that officials had initially hoped for.
The state does not yet know how many doses of the vaccine it will receive in February, but the priority remains to vaccinate adults 65 and older, who are particularly vulnerable to serious illness and death from the virus, officials said on Wednesday. of public health.
For more information on vaccination appointments, visit covidvax.alaska.gov or call 907-646-3322 and leave a message. A record says calls will be returned in order of receipt within 48 hours, but some users have reported longer delays.
Out of 157 of cases reported Wednesday in residents of Alaska, 49 in Anchorage and six in Eagle River; three to Homer; two in Kenai; four in Soldotna; three at Kodiak; one in Cordoba; 20 in Fairbanks; six at the North Pole; one in Big Lake; eight to Palmer; one in Sutton-Alpine; 22 in Wasilla; one to Willow; two in Juneau; one in Unalaska; one in Bethel; and one in Dillingham.
Among the communities with less than 1,000 individuals not named for privacy protection, there was one in the southern Kenai Peninsula; one in the Fairbanks North Star borough; three in the southeast Fairbanks census area; one in the Matanuska-Susitna district; three in the 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 have tested positive for the virus, including two in Anchorage, one in Seward, one in Wasilla, one in Unalaska and five in an unidentified area of the state.
As of Tuesday, there were 58 people with COVID-19 in hospitals statewide and three other patients suspected of having the virus. Hospitalizations are now less than half of what they were during the peak in November and December.
While people can be tested more than once, each case reported by the state’s 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.
Statewide, 3.77% of COVID-19 tests performed in the past two weeks have come back 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.]
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