Alaska is experiencing a severe outbreak of COVID-19. Where do people get it from? Pretty much everywhere people mix.

As COVID-19 spreads in Alaska, health officials said on Thursday that the new cases were mainly emerging from one scenario: wherever people mix.

Alaska faces an unprecedented level of COVID-19 cases statewide, and public health officials say even those higher numbers could be an undercount of current cases, as the results of the tests are piling up in a backlog of data. Nonetheless, recent figures show the virus has spread to all parts of the state and is putting pressure on an already overburdened healthcare system.

COVID-19 is spreading everywhere people mix in Alaska, state epidemiologist Joe McLaughlin said on a call with reporters Thursday. To be sure, there are epidemics in community living settings like nursing homes and prisons, he said, “but the vast majority of transmission just happens among people when they mix. .

Whether in a store, bar, restaurant, or sporting event, COVID-19 transmission occurs, he said. It’s like flu season – at first, transmission is sporadic and then becomes widespread. And once it reaches that point, it’s possible to catch the flu at work, with friends, or at a house party. The same is happening with COVID-19, he said.

One of the most risky situations, McLaughlin said, is living with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

Much of the transmission occurs among people who live together, said Louisa Castrodale, state epidemiologist.

“One person can get sick in this home and then all of a sudden it affects the whole family,” she says.

A case can quickly grow to six when the virus spreads to everyone in the household. And that’s really difficult, especially given the number of people who have young children and can’t isolate themselves from others.

“Wearing a mask, keeping our distance, avoiding others will be the best way to preserve our hospital capacity,” said Dr Anne Zink, Chief Medical Officer of the State.

In Anchorage – which, as the largest city in the state, may spur trends in virus counts statewide – officials recently reduced size limits for collections and expanded an emergency ordinance on the wearing of masks in response to increased cases in the community.

“This virus can only replicate itself if it has your cells to replicate,” Zink said. “You need humans to live. But if we disperse and don’t give him more humans to live on, he can’t keep moving.

Smaller social gatherings are now increasingly associated with new cases of the virus across the country, The Washington Post reported this week. This contrasts with the onset of the pandemic, when many cases were reported in long-term care facilities or crowded clubs, the Post reported.

“So not only can you protect others, it can help you,” Zink said on the call.

While Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy has so far refrained from issuing a statewide mask warrant, Zink said the slowdown in the spread of COVID-19 was down to the individual. She said the state is trying to give Alaskans the knowledge they need and stressed that authorities want people to wear masks.

“This virus doesn’t care whether you think the mask will work or not,” Zink said. “It doesn’t matter what you think of the media reports on this. It doesn’t matter if the governor says it or I say it. He cares about having a human to live in. “