The state of Alaska reported 119 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, marking the majority of state cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic.
No new deaths or hospitalizations were reported. There were 82 resident and 37 non-resident cases, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services coronavirus response site.
Thirty-six of the 37 non-resident cases were found in Unalaska and one in Juneau.
In Alaska residents, there were 36 cases in Anchorage, 10 in the Yukon-Koyukuk census area, nine in Fairbanks, seven in Wasilla, four in Eagle River and Juneau, three in Soldotna, two in Homer and one in Nikiski, Seward, Palmer, Sutton-Alpine, Ketchikan, a community marked “Other” in the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area and a community labeled “Other” in the Nome Census Area.
The city and Juneau district announced Sunday that 26 fishworkers tested positive for COVID-19. The results were not included in the state Sunday count because the test results were processed on Sunday, making it too late to include them in the full state count of Saturday cases.
Nine Alaska Glacier Seafoods employees in Juneau tested positive for the virus last week, the city said in an online statement. The cases arose from an employee who had contracted COVID-19 through community spread. The remaining 113 employees were screened for the virus and 26 people tested positive. Infected people are isolating themselves, the city said. It was not immediately clear how many of them are not residents.
Six fishworkers tested positive for COVID-19 in Unalaska on Friday, according to an online statement from the city. All crew members who were aboard the American Seafoods ship with the infected people were screened for COVID-19, the company said in a statement on Friday. It was not immediately clear if the spike in the Sunday cases was related to the outbreak on the ship. There are now 48 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Unalaska.
2,277 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Alaska since the start of the pandemic. Eighteen Alaska residents who contracted the virus have died, including an Anchorage woman in her 50s whose death was reported on Saturday. She had pre-existing health conditions, DHSS said in an online statement.
There are 1,427 active cases of COVID-19 in Alaska and 832 people have recovered from the virus.
Currently, there are 27 people at the hospital who tested positive for COVID-19 or are suspected to have contracted it and are awaiting test results, according to the state of Alaska. Since the start of the pandemic, 99 people have been hospitalized for COVID-19 across the state.
The number of cases across the state has steadily increased in previous weeks. Sunday marks the second time that the state has seen more than 100 cases in a single day. The previous daily high case count was reported last Sunday, with 116 cases on July 12.
