New COVID-19 cases reported Sunday in Alaska totaled 231, marking the first day the state has seen an increase of more than 200 cases in a single day.
The new cases include 186 Alaska residents and 45 nonresidents, according to the Department of Health and Social Services. Five more people were hospitalized with COVID-19. There were no new deaths.
Of the new cases announced to residents on Sunday, there are 154 cases in Anchorage, nine in Fairbanks, three in Eagle River, two in the North Pole, Palmer, Juneau, Wrangell, and one area in the Yakutat plus Hoonah-Angoon area, and one each case was reported in Chugiak, Homer, the Yukon-Koyukuk area, Houston, Wasilla, Ketchikan, the Prince of Wales-Hyder area, Sitka and Unalaska.
There were currently 35 people with COVID-19 who were hospitalized and eight others who may have the virus.
As of Sunday, Alaska had reported 3,102 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Alaska, according to the DHSS Coronavirus Dashboard. More than two thirds of the cases are currently active.
Twenty Alaska residents have died from the virus since the start of the pandemic. There have been 115 Alaska residents hospitalized for COVID-19 since March.
In non-residents, 34 cases were reported in Seward, three in Fairbanks and one in Ketchikan. Seven of the cases were marked “unknown” by DHSS.
As of Sunday, 950 people in the state have recovered from the virus since the pandemic began, although 2,132 cases of COVID-19 are active.
The city and Juneau district announced before the state that 21 shellfish processing employees tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. In total, 61 Alaska Glacier Seafoods employees have tested positive for COVID-19 since July 14. Forty more employees await test results, the city wrote in an online statement.
The virus was spread through the processing plant by an employee who contracted COVID-19 through community spread, the city wrote.
Seafood employees are isolated and contact investigations are ongoing, the city said. The city conducted another round of tests with the 100 employees on July 22.
The city also announced Saturday that 16 people tested positive for the virus unrelated to the seafood processing plant. The cases are likely due to community broadcast travel and secondary transmission, the public health infirmary in Juneau said.
“It is critical that community members remain vigilant to curb the spread of COVID-19,” said Mila Cosgrove, incident commander at the Juneau emergency operations center. “When you are at least six feet away from non-family members, wear a mask, wash your hands often, and stay home when you are sick, not only limiting your own risk, but you are helping to protect every community. “
[Duetothelargenumberofcommentsthatrequiremoderationwearetemporarilydisablingcommentsinmanyofourarticlessothatcloseditorsmaybreakintothecrisisofthevirusandothervoices[DebidoalagrancantidaddecomentariosquerequierenmoderaciónestamosinhabilitandotemporalmenteloscomentariosenmuchosdenuestrosartículosparaqueloseditorespuedancentrarseenlacrisisdelcoronavirusyotrascoberturasTeinvitamosaescribir[BecauseofahighvolumeofcommentsrequiringmoderationwearetemporarilydisablingcommentsonmanyofourarticlessoeditorscanfocusonthecoronaviruscrisisandothercoverageWeinviteyoutowritea letter to the editor or get straight if you want to contact us about a particular item. Thank you.]
