Alaska reports more than 4,100 COVID-19 cases over last 2 days, 8 new resident deaths

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Over 4,100 new COVID-19 infections were reported over the last two days in Alaska by the state health department, as well as eight new resident deaths. The state also reported its first two infant deaths that were related to COVID-19 this week.

Of the new cases reported for Monday and Tuesday, 4,056 were among Alaska residents — an average of 2,028 per day — and 91 were among nonresidents, a total of 4,147 total cases. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services reported 2,242 resident cases Monday and 1,814 resident cases on Tuesday, while there were 63 nonresident cases reported Monday and 28 nonresident cases reported Tuesday.

The state reported eight additional deaths among Alaska residents on Wednesday, including the first two deaths among infants. In a health echo session from the state health department, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink reported that two children had died from COVID-19.

“Of note, we have had our two first pediatric deaths in the state of Alaska,” Zink said. “Two infants, they were both less than 12 months old in the Southcentral region and they were from a while ago, but the death certificate process kind of caught up and is now out.”

There have now been a total of 1,060 COVID-19-related deaths of Alaska residents since the start of the pandemic, and there have been 33 COVID-19-related deaths of nonresidents.

In Wednesday’s virtual presentation, Zink also said that the first two cases of the B.A. 2 variant had been detected in the state, though the omicron variant remains the most prevalent.

“That driving force is this new variant, the omicron variant which just moves so fast from person to person, and you can see it’s by far become the dominant lineage across the state,” Zink said.

She also noted that, going forward, the state will report additional deaths on Wednesday of each week.

State case data shows a 19% decrease over the last compared to the week of Jan. 26 to Feb. 1. However, Alaska maintains the highest rate of new COVID-19 cases in the United States, at a rate of 2,103.5 cases per 100,000 people over the last week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only the U.S. territories of Palau and Guam have higher rates than Alaska. Washington, the next highest state behind Alaska, has a rate of 1,685.6.

There are now 151 Alaskans hospitalized with COVID-19, a slight decrease from when the state last reported data on Monday. Out of all hospitalizations in the state, 16.1% are COVID-related. There are 28 adult ICU beds available statewide, and just five available in Anchorage. There are five COVID-19 patients statewide who require the use of a ventilator.

Every census area and borough in the state is at a high alert level, which is defined as when the number of reported cases over the past week per 100,000 residents is over 100 for any single borough or census area.

The state did report that they have surpassed 1 million doses of vaccination for COVID-19 distributed. The state reports that 69.1% of Alaska residents plus veterans and military members have received one dose of vaccination, while 61.7% have completed their primary series and 25.6% have received booster doses.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional information.

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