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Alaska reported 637 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday as hospitalizations continue to remain high.
On Sunday, 157 people with COVID-19 or suspected of being infected were hospitalized. Health officials have repeatedly pointed out that hospitals in Alaska will be overwhelmed if cases continue to rise. As of Sunday, 43 intensive care unit beds were available statewide.
Sunday’s new case count comes after weeks of increases in daily infection totals. Health officials said the high number of cases on Friday likely underestimated the true number of COVID-19 cases in the state because a lab had not released the results for weeks. Almost all areas of the state are on high alert with widespread community transmission underway.
In Anchorage, Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson ordered the city to return to a modified “hunker-down” state starting Tuesday.
Ahead of Thanksgiving, state and national health officials pleaded with people to avoid travel and only spend vacations with people inside their homes to avoid further spreading the virus.
Of the new cases reported Sunday among residents of Alaska, 226 were in Anchorage, two in Chugiak, 12 in Eagle River and three in Girdwood; one was in Anchor Point, 11 in Homer, 11 in Kenai, three in Soldotna and two in Sterling; eight were at Kodiak; one was at Valdez; one was at Healy; 60 were in Fairbanks and 13 in the North Pole; one was in Tok; two were in Big Lake, 31 in Palmer and 96 in Wasilla; four were in Nome; three were in Utqiagvik; three were in Kotzebue; 11 were in Juneau; one was in Ketchikan; one was in Petersburg; six were in Sitka; nine were at Bethel; one was at Dillingham; and one was at Shevak. A new case has been classified by the health department as being in an unknown area.
Among the communities of less than 1,000 people not named for privacy protection, one was in the southern part of the Kenai Peninsula Ward and three in the Valdez-Cordova census area; three were in the Fairbanks North Star neighborhood; one was in the district of Matanuska-Susitna; one was in the Yakutat plus Hoonah-Angoon areas; four were in the Eastern Aleutian Ward, 83 in the Bethel Census Area and seven in the Kusilvak Census Area.
Nine cases were reported among non-residents on Sunday, including two in Anchorage, two in Homer, one person in the mining industry in Delta Junction, one in Palmer, one in Wasilla and two in unknown areas of the state. One of the Anchorage cases was identified in an airline pilot, the health department said.
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, it is not indicated how many people had symptoms at the time of the positive test. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about a third of people with the virus are asymptomatic.
On Sunday, the state had a 6.7% positivity rate over the past seven days. Health officials warn that a positivity rate above 5% means there is rapid community transmission.
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