COVID-19 follow-up in Alaska: 210 new infections and no deaths reported Friday

Coronavirus cases in Alaska have steadily declined in recent months after a surge of infections in November and early December that strained hospital capacity.

Hospitalizations in Alaska are now less than a quarter of what they were in November and December. As of Friday, there were 33 people with COVID-19 in hospitals statewide, four of them on ventilators. Another the patient was suspected of having the virus.

The COVID-19 vaccine reached Alaska in mid-December. As of Friday, 137,124 people – nearly 19% of Alaska’s population – had received at least their first vaccine, according to the state’s Vaccine Monitoring Dashboard. This is well above the national average of 12.4%. Among Alaskans aged 16 and over, 24% had received at least one dose of the vaccine by Friday. The Pfizer vaccine has been approved for people 16 years of age and older, and Moderna has been approved for people 18 years of age and older.

Healthcare workers, nursing home staff and residents were the first priority people to receive the vaccine. Alaskans over 65 became eligible in early January, and the state further expanded the eligibility criteria last week to include educators, people 50 and older with a disability. high-risk health care workers, front-line essential workers 50 and over, and people living or working in congregations. settings such as shelters and prisons.

Those eligible to receive the vaccine can visit covidvax.alaska.gov or call 907-646-3322 to register and confirm their eligibility. The telephone line is open from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekends.

Despite the lower numbers, public health officials continue to encourage Alaskans to follow personal virus mitigation efforts such as hand washing, wearing masks and social distancing. A highly contagious variant of the virus reached Alaska in December.

Of the 185 cases reported among Alaskan residents on Friday, there were 59 in Anchorage plus one in Chugiak and five in Eagle River; two in Kenai; one in Soldotna; one at Kodiak; 18 at Fairbanks plus one at the North Pole; one in Big Lake; 11 in Palmer; one in Sutton-Alpine; 38 in Wasilla; two in Utqiagvik; six in Juneau; 15 in Ketchikan; one in Petersburg; two in Sitka; one in Wrangell; one in Unalaska; and one in Dillingham.

Of the communities under 1,000 not named for privacy, three were in the Copper River Census Area; one in the south of the Kenai Peninsula; three in the Yukon-Koyukuk census region; one in Yakutat plus the Hoonah Angoon area; and nine in the Bethel census area;

Twenty-five cases have also been identified among non-residents: one in Anchorage, one in Fairbanks, one in Juneau and 22 in Unalaska.

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.

Of all the tests done in the past seven days, an average of 2.27% came back positive.