As Alaska residents commemorated Independence Day, the state reported another COVID-19-related death and 55 more cases between residents and non-residents.
Additional details about the 16th reported death of an Alaskan with COVID-19 were not immediately available, even when the person died, was in condition at the time of death, or had a pre-existing medical condition. The state reported on Friday the death of a 15th resident who involved an Anchorage man in his 80s who died in early June.
Forty-eight residents and seven non-Alaska residents recently tested positive for the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to the state health department’s COVID-19 control panel. Since the start of the pandemic, 1,111 Alaska residents and 230 nonresidents have tested positive. Of these, 551 resident cases and 174 non-resident cases are active, which means that they are not considered recovered from COVID-19.
Three other Alaska residents confirmed they were infected with the virus and required hospitalization, bringing the total to 72 since the coronavirus was first detected in the state.
The July 4 celebrations were canceled across the state, prompting Alaska residents to celebrate on a smaller scale this weekend and organize their own festivities. Before the holiday, state officials, including Governor Mike Dunleavy, urged Alaska residents to cover their faces and keep a physical distance of 6 feet from other people to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Southcentral Alaska saw most of the new cases reported by the state on Saturday. The new cases involve 32 residents of Anchorage, where the city’s health department confirmed exposure to COVID-19 at more than a dozen facilities on specific dates in June. Health officials urged anyone visiting those businesses at specified times to monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms and to be tested.
Elsewhere in Southcentral, four Wasilla residents, one in Palmer, two in Willow, and one in Soldotna, also confirmed having COVID-19.
The state also reported Saturday on four cases among Fairbanks residents, one in Fairbanks and one in smaller communities in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Bethel Census Area, and Bristol Bay, in addition to the boroughs of Lake and Peninsula.
The Bristol Bay Area Health Corp. said in a statement that a Bristol Bay area resident who developed symptoms of COVID-19 after traveling to Anchorage tested positive on Friday. That person isolates himself, and several close contacts of them were “instructed to remain in strict quarantine,” the health corporation said, adding that “the city of Dillingham and the affected village have also been notified of this. new index case “.
New nonresident cases include one fishing industry worker and one person in Anchorage, two fishing industry workers in Valdez, two people in Fairbanks, and one person in Juneau.
On Friday, 2,524 tests were conducted, of the 122,732 since the start of the pandemic. The test data reflects the individual tests that were processed, and not necessarily the number of people that have been evaluated.
The state reports new virus cases daily based on test results returned the previous day.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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