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With the number of coronavirus cases in Alaska and hospitalizations still high statewide, some Anchorage hospitals this week announced additional restrictions for visitors.
Alaska on Thursday reported 382 new cases of COVID-19 and five virus-related deaths which authorities say all occurred in May and were identified through a standard review of death certificates.
A spokeswoman for Alaska Regional Hospital said Thursday that the Anchorage facility is still operating very full.
“A week ago today, we had 30 COVID-19 patients, which is the highest number we’ve seen. Today, we are taking care of 25 COVID-19 positive patients, ”hospital spokesperson Kjerstin Lastufka said in an email on Thursday.
As an added protective measure at the Alaska Regional, most patients are now limited to one visitor per day per patient, while emergency department patients are not allowed any visitors, Lastufka said.
The high transmission of COVID-19 in the community has also prompted the Alaska Native Medical Center to restrict the number of visitors allowed to its facility. As of the start of this week, a policy allowing visitors only in certain situations – such as end of life, labor and delivery, and pediatric care – went into effect.
As of Thursday, 97 people were hospitalized with the virus in Alaska, including 17 on ventilators.
The number of hospitalizations has remained relatively stable over the past week, but is considered high for a state with limited healthcare infrastructure and hospitals already close to capacity during the summer.
Last winter, the number of hospitalizations linked to the virus peaked at around 150. As of early July, hospitalizations were less than a quarter of what they are now.
In addition, visits are limited for at least two weeks at Ketchikan Pioneer Home, a state-run assisted living facility that is currently experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak.
As of Thursday, 10 residents and two staff at the home had tested positive, Clinton Bennett, spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services, said in an email.
A resident was hospitalized overnight, but returned home the next day and is in stable condition, he said. The household’s vaccination rate among staff and residents is over 90%, meaning some cases were likely “breakthrough” cases, Bennett said. Vaccination is not required for Pioneer Home staff, Bennett said.
Officials also said Thursday that vaccination rates in Alaska are slowly starting to increase as more Alaskans choose to protect themselves.
Comparing the weeks starting July 18 and July 25, Alaska saw a 9% increase in the rate of vaccines administered statewide over a single week, Matt Bobo, Alaska’s immunization program manager, said on a call with reporters.
Higher vaccination rates are Alaska’s best chance of reducing the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, officials including Gov. Mike Dunleavy said. Between January and the end of July, 94% of the state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations and 97% of deaths were among unvaccinated Alaskans.
As of Thursday, 48% of all Alaskans had received at least one dose of the vaccine, and about 44% of the general population were considered fully vaccinated. Among only eligible Alaskans aged 12 and over, these percentages were higher: 58.1% had received a dose and 52.6% had completed their vaccination series.
The deaths reported Thursday involved a woman from Fairbanks who was 80 or older, a man from Anchorage who was 80 or older, an Anchorage woman in her 70s, a woman from a small community in the Borough of Mat-Su who was 70 and a Palmer man in his 70s.
A total of 390 Alaskans and eight non-residents have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic hit the state last spring.
The state’s health department said last week that even fully vaccinated Alaskans in communities with high COVID-19 transmission should consider re-masking in indoor public spaces. This recommendation was in line with recent guidelines from the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The state’s test positivity rate rose slightly on Thursday. Of all the tests done in the past week, 6.35% were positive. Epidemiologists have said that a positivity rate above 5% is of concern, as it indicates higher transmission and insufficient detection of the virus.
Of the 351 cases reported Thursday among Alaskan residents, there were 82 in Homer, 69 in Anchorage, 20 in Wasilla, 18 in Kodiak, 16 in Kenai, 15 in Fairbanks, 14 in Anchor Point, 12 in the Pole North, 11 in Palmer, 10 in Soldotna, nine in Eagle River, seven in Valdez, six in Juneau, five in Cordova, three in Seward, three in Sitka, two in Chugiak, two in Ketchikan, two in Sterling, two in Utqiagvik and one each in Bethel, Big Lake, Douglas, Fritz Creek and Girdwood.
The state’s health department said in an email that the higher number of cases in Homer is a reflection of a delay in processing test results that was recently identified and resolved. There has been “no delay in communicating test results to those who test positive,” the state said.
Among the smaller communities, there were 18 in the Nome census area, four in the southern Borough of the Kenai Peninsula, three in the Copper River census area, three in the Yukon census area. -Koyukuk, two in the borough of the East Aleutians, two in the borough of Denali. , two in the northern Borough of the Kenai Peninsula and one in the Bethel Census Area, the North Slope Borough, the Northwestern Arctic Borough and the Southern Census Area. is from Fairbanks.
There were also 31 new identified non-resident cases: eight in Homer, four in Fairbanks, three in Anchorage, two in Ketchikan, one in Delta Junction, one in Juneau, one in Kenai, one in a small community in the Kenai Peninsula Ward, one in Skagway, one in Soldotna, one in Valdez, and seven in unidentified areas of the state.
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