COVID-19 follow-up in Alaska: 503 new cases reported Monday as outbreak continues in rural communities

Alaska reported 503 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, but no new deaths.

Meanwhile, health officials in the Yukon-Kuskowkim Delta reported 71 new cases on Sunday, including 30 in the village of Akiak alone. The surge in the number of cases in the region, coupled with a fragile health care system, prompted tribal health officials last week to call for a month-long lockdown. Health officials in Nome reported 40 active cases on Sunday. Twenty-five people on the North Slope also tested positive throughout the weekend through Monday, according to the Arctic Slope Native Association. Twenty are residents of Utqiagvik.

On Monday, 128 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were hospitalized statewide with 13 more patients awaiting test results. Nineteen confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients were on ventilators on Sunday.

Health officials in Alaska and across the country have pleaded with people to reconsider their vacation plans as Thanksgiving approaches. Acting Anchorage Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson said city officials would consider further restrictions or closures if current unsustainable trends continue.

The capacity for health care is even more fragile in rural communities that depend on local clinics and hospitals in hub communities like Bethel and Kotzebue. However, many hospitals do not have intensive care units, so sickest patients have to be airlifted to Anchorage.

Alaska remained on alert for the spread of the community throughout the state on Monday.

Of the 501 new resident cases reported Monday among Alaskan residents, there were 256 in Anchorage, nine in Chugiak and 31 in Eagle River; six in Kenai, three in Seward, four in Soldotna; six at Kodiak; one in Valdez; 34 at Fairbanks and four at the North Pole; nine in Palmer, 14 in Wasilla and one in Willow; five in Nome; one in Utqiagvik; six in Kotzebue; one in Douglas and five in Juneau; one in Ketchikan; five in Sitka; 18 in Bethel; one in Dillingham; and two in Hooper Bay. One case has been listed as an unknown location.

Among the communities of less than 1,000 who are not named for privacy protection, there were five in the northern Kenai Peninsula; five in the Valdez-Cordova census area; four in the Yukon-Koyukuk census region; one in the Northwestern Arctic Borough; two in Yakutat plus Hoonah-Angoon; three in the eastern district of the Aleutians; 55 in the Bethel census area; and two in the Kusilvak census area.

Two cases were reported Monday among non-residents in Anchorage.

While people can be tested more than once, each case reported by the state’s health department represents only one person.

Among the new cases, the number of patients showing symptoms when they tested positive is not indicated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about a third of people with the virus are asymptomatic.

A total of 27,773 Alaskans or non-residents of the state have tested positive for COVID-19 since March.

The state’s positivity rate on Monday was 8.74%. Health officials have warned that a positivity rate above 5% means there is strong community transmission.