Alaska ties record for highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Over the weekend, Alaska tied its previous record for the highest number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 at one time.

The state had 151 people hospitalized with the virus on both Friday and Saturday, Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association President Jared Kosin confirmed Monday. The last time Alaska saw that number of COVID-19 hospitalizations was in Dec. 2020.

That number dropped to 150 on Sunday, Kosin said via email.

On Monday, the state reported 1,155 new COVID-19 infections over the last three days.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Alaska facilities has remained high for the last few weeks, prompting hospital administrators to ask for help as they deal with bed and staffing shortages. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Service’s hospital data dashboard showed that, as of Sunday, there were zero adult ICU beds left available in Anchorage. This was confirmed on the municipality’s hospital dashboard as well.

The state dashboard showed that as of Sunday there were 17 adult ICU beds still available statewide, and that 18 people are currently on ventilators.

Of the new COVID-19 cases reported by the state health department Monday, there were 694 new cases reported for Friday, 301 cases on Saturday and 160 on Sunday.

The state reported no additional COVID-19 related deaths, leaving the total number of Alaska resident deaths that have been related to the virus at 427.

Of the new cases reported Monday, 1,111 of them were identified among Alaska residents of the following communities:

Anchorage: 317
Bethel Census Area: 90
Fairbanks: 82
Wasilla: 53
Nome Census Area: 52
Eagle River: 48
Juneau: 42
Kodiak: 34
Kenai: 27
North Pole: 27
Palmer: 26
Homer: 24
Kusilvak Census Area: 22
Seward: 22
Bethel: 20
Sitka: 19
Ketchikan: 18
Soldotna: 18
Northwest Arctic Borough: 17
Dillingham Census Area: 14
Chugiak: 12
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area: 12
Sterling: 9
Haines: 8
Tok: 7
Utqiagvik: 6
Chevak: 5
Douglas: 5
Fairbanks North Star Borough: 5
Girdwood: 5
North Slope Borough: 5
Anchor Point: 4
Bristol Bay plus Lake and Peninsula: 4
Copper River Census Area: 4
Petersburg: 4
Willow: 4
Wrangell: 4
Craig: 3
Dillingham: 3
Kenai Peninsula Borough North: 3
Kenai Peninsula Borough South: 3
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area: 3
Valdez: 3
Delta Junction: 2
Kotzebue: 2
Nikiski: 2
Nome: 2
Unalaska: 2
Cordova: 1
Ester: 1
Hooper Bay: 1
Meadow Lakes: 1
Prince Of Wales-Hyder Census Area: 1
Salcha: 1
Sutton-Alpine: 1
Yakutat plus Hoonah-Angoon: 1

The state also reported an additional 44 nonresident COVID-19 cases in Alaska on Monday — 15 in Anchorage, 11 in unknown parts of the state, three in Kenai, two each in Fairbanks, Port Alsworth and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and Kodiak, and one each Juneau, Kotzebue, Prudhoe Bay, Soldotna and Valdez.

As of Monday, the state’s vaccine monitoring dashboard shows 60.6% of all Alaskans age 12 and older have gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and nearly 55% are fully vaccinated.

The Juneau region remains the most highly vaccinated of the state’s major regions, with more than 78% of people 12 and older there fully vaccinated. In the Municipality of Anchorage, 57% are fully vaccinated.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough and Matanuska-Susitna Borough remain the two least vaccinated of Alaska’s major regions.

Since the pandemic began, the state has conducted more than 2.72 million COVID-19 tests, and currently has a seven-day average positivity rate of 7.27%.