Updated 6:35 pm Another Fairbanks resident died from complications related to COVID-19, according to a state report released Tuesday afternoon.
The individual was a man in his 40s. The current death toll in Alaska is 22.
Six Fairbanks North Star Borough residents, five in Fairbanks and one at the North Pole, are among the 137 new cases of COVID-19 reported statewide by the Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday. Of the total, 110 are state residents and 27 are non-residents.
In addition, four new people have become sick enough to warrant hospitalization, bringing the number of people hospitalized since mid-March to 120.
Currently, 36 Alaska residents are reported to be hospitalized with a confirmed case of the disease and other hospital patients across the state remain under investigation pending test results.
There are four COVID-10 positive patients hospitalized in the Interior and another patient who is under investigation and awaiting test results.
As the numbers increase across the state, Governor Mike Dunleavy announced Tuesday that starting on August 11, travelers to the state of Alaska will need to test negative for the COVID-19 before arriving in Alaska.
Previous travel mandates urged travelers to undergo a pre-arrival test, but if travelers were unable to receive it, they could have a test administered at an Alaska airport upon arrival. Now travelers must have proof of a negative result upon arrival. The governor had no information at this time about how the state plans to enforce the mandate.
“We are going in that direction,” Dunleavy said.
As cases increase in the state, the change was made to reserve many of these previously used traveler test kits for Alaska, the governor said.
Alaska residents returning to the state can still receive a test at the airport, the governor said.
Anchorage residents made up the majority of all resident cases Tuesday, with 71 residents testing positive.
According to reports from the state health department, the other resident cases include six from Eagle River and Juneau; three each from Chugiak and Wasilla; two each from Kenai, Palmer and Seward; and one each from Cordova, elsewhere in the Valdez-Cordova census area, Homer, Ketchikan, Prince of Wales-Hyder census area, Southeast Fairbanks census area, Soldotna, Utqiaġvik and the combined area of the Yakutat and Hoonah-Angoon census.
This brings the total number of Alaska residents testing positive for the disease to 2,729, of whom nearly 69% are considered active by state health officials.
Also Tuesday, state health officials reported 27 new cases among nonresidents.
These include three individuals in Anchorage whose reason for being in the state is still under investigation, an unknown industry worker in the combined townships of Bristol Bay and Lake and Peninsula, three fishing industry workers in Juneau, two fishing industry workers and an unknown individual in Seward, a visitor in Willow, two people in Wasilla whose reasons for being in the state remain unknown, another unknown person in Big Lake, two fishing industry workers in Valdez, and a visitor and 10 other people in an unknown place right now.
This brings the total number of nonresident cases in the state to 621. It is unclear at this time how many of those cases are currently considered active.
Alaska has seen a sharp increase in daily cases since late May, when the governor implemented the final phase of his plan to reopen the state after months of large-scale closings to mitigate the disease.
On May 22, the day the state “reopened,” Alaska’s positive case rate was approximately 10% of the total. Tuesday, it was over 68%. Still, the Dunleavy told reporters that it does not support calls for state mandates regarding the masks and the size of the pickup.
The governor defended his choice to renounce state mandates in favor of suggestions and urges Alaska residents to follow hygiene and distance guidelines, noting that his previous mandates limiting business and social gatherings cost business. , the economy, churches, religious events and other gatherings
A total of 213,875 tests have been conducted across the state. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous three days is 2.65%.
Contact writer Erin McGroarty at 459-7544. Follow her on twitter.com/FDNMpolitics.
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