Alaska reports 28 more deaths to COVID-19, more than 500 new cases

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The state of Alaska added 28 more deaths from COVID-19 and over 500 more cases in its latest report Wednesday.

The Department of Health and Social Services reported 545 new resident COVID-19 cases over the past two days (218 on Monday and 327 on Tuesday), as well as five new nonresident cases (three on Monday and two on Tuesday), for a total of 550 new infections.

Despite the declining numbers, every region in the state remains in the “high” alert status for case rates. Alaska moved up three places since Monday in the nationwide rankings for community transmission rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and now sits third among all 50 U.S. states with a case rate of 465.9 cases per 100,000 over the previous seven days, only behind Idaho and Maine. It’s a bump up from a case rate of 356.9 on Monday.

Alaska’s total death tally to COVID-19 now sits at 1,158.

The latest case numbers represent a 26% decrease over the past seven days when compared to the week of Feb. 16-Feb. 22.

Hospitalizations in the state remain stagnant with the state reporting 77 currently hospitalized. Among all hospitalizations in the state, 5.2% of patients have COVID-19, and three currently require a ventilator. In Anchorage, there are currently seven adult ICU beds available out of 101 total.

Vaccine statistics across the state remain stagnant as 71% of residents, military members and veterans have received at least one vaccination dose, 63.9% have completed their primary immunization series and 26.6% have gotten a booster shot.

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