108 new COVID-19 cases reported over last 2 days

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services reported 108 new COVID-19 cases over the last two days, and no additional deaths related to the virus.

The state reports new cases Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The health department on Friday reported there were 58 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and 50 on Thursday.

There are now three regions in the state, including Anchorage, that have moved back up into the intermediate alert level. The alert level is based on the average daily case rate over the last 14 days, per 100,000 people. Anchorage currently has an average daily case rate of 6.3 per 100,000, which represents a slight increase in transmission of COVID-19 in the region.

A community goes up into the intermediate alert level when its average case rate is more than five per 100,000. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region remains in the high alert level with an average case rate of 22.8 per 100,000.

Of the 108 new COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday, 103 were identified among Alaska residents of the following communities:

Anchorage: 42
Hooper Bay: 13
Sitka: 6
Fairbanks: 4
Eagle River: 3
Nome Census Area: 3
Palmer: 3
Soldotna: 3
Wasilla: 3
Bethel Census Area: 2
Chugiak: 2
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area: 2
Valdez: 2
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area: 2
Anchor Point: 1
Big Lake: 1
Chevak: 1
Cordova: 1
Juneau: 1
Kenai: 1
Kenai Peninsula Borough North: 1
Ketchikan: 1
Nikiski: 1
North Pole: 1
Sutton-Alpine: 1
Tok: 1
Unalaska: 1

The state also reported five new nonresident COVID-19 cases over the last two days — four in Anchorage and one in an unknown part of the state.

As of Wednesday, 55% of Alaskans age 12 and older have gotten an initial dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, state data shows, and 50% are fully vaccinated. In the Juneau region, 72% of those 12 and older are fully vaccinated, compared to 52% in Anchorage and 35% in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

Also as of Wednesday, there are 19 people being hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, according to state data. Of those, eight people are on ventilators. Nearly 1,620 Alaska residents have been hospitalized with the virus since the start of the pandemic.

The state has conducted more than 2.38 million COVID-19 tests since the pandemic began, and currently has a seven-day average positivity rate of 1.54%