Alaska is in the midst of an unprecedented increase in COVID-19 cases: the current increase is greater than any previous increase and has lasted more than three weeks.
Cases of the disease caused by the new coronavirus are appearing in every corner of the state – eight of the state’s 11 areas are in the precautionary zone – one more death and 204 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Alaska on Saturday. Department of Health and Social Services COVID-19 Dashboard.
In some parts of the lower 48 there has been an increase in the number of cases in parallel with the increasing number of cases of the virus. The cases reported in Alaska’s daily report have seen triple digits for 24 consecutive days.
According to the state health department, the death report on Saturday included a Fairbanks man in his 90s. A total of 67 Alaskas with Covid-19 have died since the epidemic began here in March.
Across the state as of Saturday, 50 people had been hospitalized with COVID-19, while 18 other hospital patients were awaiting test results, state figures said. Hospitalization for COVID-19 is often referred to as a “leggings indicator,” meaning that people can show up to the hospital after initially testing positive.
In new cases, it was not clear how many patients were showing symptoms of the virus when tested positive. While people can be tested more than once, each case reported by the state health department represents only one person.
The current surge is different from the state’s previous spike in July, state health officials said in a call to reporters on Thursday: there are more cases at the moment, but there are more tests available – although the state still needs more. Also, in some rural communities, there are more cases across the state than there were concentrated outbreaks in fish processing plants in July.
“We get a better treatment and understanding of the disease than in July, and so we think it is also playing a role in death and hospitalization,” Zinc, Alaska’s chief medical officer, Dr. Ne, said Thursday. Call journalists.
But the biggest difference between the current spike and summer growth is that it’s colder, Zinc said. More people are indoors and more people get bored. The challenges of getting more people inside for the season are just mounting.
“We understand this disease better every day,” Zinc said. “And so we really want to encourage Alaskans to be optimistic (and) capable of being resilient at the same time. I think this fall and winter can be very challenging as cases are on the rise. “
But it is not too late to slow down the current surge in cases, health officials say.
“We know what works with covid,” said state epidemiologist Dr. “We’ve demonstrated it in Alaska, we’ve demonstrated it in the United States, and we’ve demonstrated it in many countries around the world. The mitigation works.”
Many data points and indicators are the worst since the onset of the epidemic.
Oct. Between And and Oct.10, Alaska saw a steady increase in cases, with 40% more cases than the week before.
The state’s fertility rate, the average number of people infected with the virus per person, has only recently seen a “significant increase” – to 1.118 by October. 10. A reproductive number means the state epidemic is on the rise as each person is spreading the virus to more than one person.
The state’s positivity rate, or percentage of positive tests from the total tests, has been steadily rising since Saturday this week with a positivity rate of 9.94%, which is national. Slightly below the national average of 5%.
“While many states have higher positivity rates than Alaska, the increase is because the positivity rate is our best measure of whether our testing capacity can keep up with current cases. The increase in the positivity rate reflects that testing is not growing as fast as in current cases, state health officials wrote in a recent report..
While Alaska has the lowest per capita mortality rate in the country, Vermont and Wyoming have the lowest total deaths.
State health officials say they have no reason to think the virus is less serious in Alaska than in other places. They say recent studies show that COVID-19 strains in the state are no more severe than strains in other parts of the western U.S.
This means that the virus is present in many communities in Alaska, with the potential to make people of all ages very ill if it is allowed to continue to spread, state health officials said.
In a briefing on Friday, anchorage health department epidemiologist Dr. Last week, Anchorage saw a 40% increase in new cases, Janet Johnston said. It was the first week that Anchorage averaged more than 100 new cases per day, averaging 102.2 new cases a day.
It is estimated that only one in 10 people with Covid-19 is known to be actually infected, Johnston said, adding that about 8,500 people in Anchorage are infected with the virus.
Across the state as of Saturday, some regions of the state were tilted into high alert zones, with more than 10 cases per 100,000 people reported in the last two weeks. According to the state health department, the high warning level indicates that there is a widespread community transmission of the virus and many detected cases as well as frequent epidemics have spread.
Some locations, such as Anchorage, Northwest Alaska and Fairbanks North Star Borough, have tripled the threshold, with a low 30s average. Other regions, such as the Metanuska-Susitna borough and the Kenai Peninsula borough, entered the red zone on the new Saturday, with less than 10 cases per 100,000 each.
Only three regions on the state warning level map were not in the red zone as of Saturday, including the southwestern region and much of southwestern Alaska outside the city of Junoua and the borough.
Of the 201 new cases involving residents of Covid-19, 90 were in Anchorage; Three were in Chugiyak; 10 Eagles were in the river; One was in Girdwood; One was in Homer; One was in Kenai; Four were in Soldotna; The two were in sterling; One was in Kodiak; There were two Haley; 15 were in Fairbank; Four were at the North Pole; Five were at Delta Junction; The two were in talk; Five were in Palmer; 15 were in Wasila; There were three willows; Five were in Utkiagvik; 12 were in Juneau; The two were in Ketchikan; Three were in Petersburg; There was a Craig; One was in Unalska; Three were at Bethel; And two were in Chevak.
Among the smaller than 1,000 communities not known to protect secrecy, the northern Kenai Peninsula was one; One in Fairbanks North Star Borough; Two in the Yukon-Koyukuk census area; Nome one in the census field; And three in the Bethel census area.
Of the three exceptional cases, two were in Anchorage and one in Wasila.
As of Saturday, the state’s test positivity rate was 9.94% above the seven-day rolling average.
[Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that the individual who died was from Anchorage. He was a Fairbanks resident.]
