Alaska reports 5 deaths, 863 COVID-19 cases Thursday as hospitalizations trend downward

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The state reported more than 800 additional COVID-19 infections on Thursday and five new deaths of Alaska residents, as COVID-19 hospitalizations continued to trend slightly downward.

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services reported 863 COVID-19 cases Thursday, 21 of which are among nonresidents. The state also reported five deaths, all of which the health department said were recent. They were an Anchorage woman 80 or older, an Anchorage woman in her 40s, a woman in her 60s from the Chugach Census Area, a Soldotna man in his 70s and a Soldotna man in his 50s.

Since the pandemic began in Alaska in March 2020, the state has reported a total of 569 Alaska resident deaths and 21 nonresident deaths that have been related to COVID-19.

Alaska’s rate of new cases per capita remain the highest in the nation, though case trends from the last week have state health officials and hospital administrators cautiously optimistic that the state’s current COVID-19 surge could be peaking. They warn, though, that cases are still high in Alaska and that there’s still a long way to go, especially in terms of hospital capacity.

State data shows that, as of Wednesday, there were 180 people being hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, and that 31 of them are on ventilators. COVID-19 hospitalization numbers have decreased over the last three days after the state reported a record high of 217 COVID-19 hospitalizations last month.

The state’s hospital data dashboard shows that as of Wednesday, there were three adult ICU beds left open in Anchorage and 24 still available statewide.

Vaccination rates vary from region to region in Alaska, but the state’s vaccine monitoring dashboard shows that 58.5% of all eligible Alaskans 12 and older are now fully vaccinated. Close to 64% of them have gotten at least an initial dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Of the 863 new COVID-19 cases reported Thursday, 842 of them were identified among Alaska residents of the following communities: