Alaska reports 9 COVID-19 deaths, just over 500 cases on Wednesday

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The state of Alaska reported nine additional COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, along with just over 500 additional COVID-19 infections. Hospitalizations due to the virus have remained steady so far this week.

he statewide alert level remains high, with 504.3 cases per 100,000 residents over the last week, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.

While Alaska remains the state with the highest rate new cases per capita in the U.S. according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state data shows cases dropped 14% this week compared to the week of Oct. 27 to Nov. 2. Of the 508 cases reported by the state health department Wednesday, seven are among nonresidents.

The CDC reports Alaska’s case rate is 530 cases per 100,000 people, which is over three times the national case rate of 157.3. North Dakota is the state with the second-highest case rate at 468.3.

There have now been 801 total Alaskan residents who have died with COVID-19. Of the additional nine whose deaths were reported Wednesday, all but one was over 50. The people reported to have died from COVID-19 were a Fairbanks man in his 60s, a Delta Junction man in his 60s, a Wasilla woman in her 60s and Wasilla man in his 50s, and five Anchorage residents; a woman in her 70s, two men in their 60s, a man in his 50s and a man in his 30s.

There were eight new hospitalizations reported on Wednesday and the state’s hospital data dashboard 141 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 across Alaska. There are 22 people hospitalized with COVID-19 who require ventilators. Just 26 ICU beds are available statewide. Of those 26, seven ICU beds are available in Anchorage and none in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

There were 18,766 total doses of COVID-19 vaccine distributed last week, an increase in 21.1% from the previous week. However, just 2,650 Alaskans received their first doses of vaccine during the week of Oct. 27 to Nov. 2. The state’s vaccine monitoring dashboard shows that 54% of all eligible Alaskans age 5 and older have been fully vaccines, and 59% have had at least one dose of a vaccine.

Of the 34,870 COVID-19 tests conducted over the last week, 7.7% have returned positive.

Of the 508 cases reported by the state on Friday, 501 were identified among Alaska residents of the following communities: