Alaska reports 821 additional COVID-19 cases over last 5 days, along with 6 deaths

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The state of Alaska on Wednesday reported 821 additional COVID-19 infections for the last five days, as well as six deaths of Alaska residents that are related to the virus.

The state now reports new cases three days a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but did not report new cases on Monday, which was the Seward’s Day holiday. According to state data, there were 219 Alaska resident cases of COVID-19 for last Friday, 145 cases for Saturday, 93 for Sunday, 83 for Monday and 272 for Tuesday. The state also reported nine nonresident cases over the last five days — six on Saturday, two on Monday and one on Tuesday.

State case data shows a 3% decrease in COVID-19 cases over this past week compared to the week of March 16-22. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alaska is still the state with the highest rate of new cases per capita over the last week. CDC data shows Alaska has a rate of 149.7 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people over the last seven days.

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services also reported six additional COVID-19-related deaths on Wednesday, all among Alaska residents. They ranged in age from their 60s to 80 or older, according to the state health department. The people who died were two Anchorage women in their 60s, an Anchorage man in his 70s, a Fairbanks man 80 or older, a woman from the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area in her 60s and a Wasilla man who was 80 or older.

The state’s hospital dashboard showed there are 34 people being hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, and two patients that are on a ventilator. There are 30 adult ICU beds available statewide.

Vaccination against COVID-19 remains somewhat stagnant, with the state’s vaccine monitoring dashboard showing 64.3% of eligible Alaskans, veterans and military members are now fully vaccinated. The data shows 71.5% have gotten at least an initial dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Of the 821 additional COVID-19 cases reported by the state Wednesday, 812 of them were identified among Alaska residents of the following communities:

Copyright 2022 KTUU. All rights reserved.