Sunday’s number of cases comes after several weeks with lower daily case numbers. Alaska saw a spike in the number of cases worrying about hospital capacity in November and early December, eventually leading to a month-long hunker-down order in Anchorage. The number of cases started to decline in December.
As the number of infections continues to steadily continue, Acting Mayor of Anchorage Austin Quinn-Davidson announced last week that the city will relax COVID-19 restrictions. A new emergency order will take effect on Monday, allowing more people to enter bars and restaurants and making size limits easier to collect.
Despite January’s small print, Alaska is in the top alert category based on the current per capita contamination rate. In Western Alaska, the number of cases remains high and is even increasing in some rural villages where significant COVID-19 outbreaks occur.
The fishing industry has again been hit by multiple outbreaks under ships and processing facilities in the Aleutian Islands. Some facilities are temporarily closed when the winter fishing season started.
Hospital admissions have fallen along with the number of infections and are now less than a third of the peak levels in November and December. On Sunday, there were 38 people with COVID-19 in hospitals across the state. Another four patients were believed to have the virus.
Health officials are urging Alaskans to continue to take the pandemic seriously, even as the number of cases has fallen. Scientists at the state’s public health labs confirmed last week that a highly contagious variant of the virus reached Alaska last month.
The vaccine reached Alaska in mid-December. Friday, when the state released the most recent data, there were 90,777 According to the state’s vaccine control dashboard, people – about 12% of Alaska’s population – had been vaccinated. That is almost double the national average of 6.9%.
Health workers and nursing home workers and residents were the first people to be prioritized when receiving the vaccine. In early January, the state said Alaskans over 65 were now eligible, although appointment spots are limited and fill up quickly.
Thousands of new vaccination appointments went live on the state’s website this week. Seniors and other eligible health professionals can call 907-646-3322 for assistance with booking an appointment in February.
Of the 130 cases announced in Alaskans on Sunday, 41 were in Anchorage, one in Chugiak, and two in Eagle River; one was in Homer, one in Nikiski, one in Seward, and one in Soldotna; two were in Kodiak; 12 were in Fairbanks and two in North Pole; one was in Palmer and six in Wasilla; one was in Nome; one was in Kotzebue; three were in Douglas and two in Juneau; one was in Ketchikan; one was in Sitka; one was in Wrangell; four were in Unalaska; and eight were in Bethel.
Among communities with a population of less than 1,000 people who are not listed to protect privacy, there was one in the Kodiak Island Borough; four were in the Copper River area of the Valdez-Cordova Census Area; two were in the southeast Fairbanks Census Area; two were in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area; one was in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough; two were in the Northwest Arctic Borough; 16 were in the Bethel Census Area; and nine were in the territory of the census of Kusilvak.
Seven infections were found among non-residents, including one in Anchorage, one in the Aleutians East Borough and two in Unalaska. In three cases, the state health department was still investigating the site.
While people can be tested more than once, each case reported by the state health service represents only one person.
The state’s data does not specify whether people who test positive for COVID-19 have symptoms. The CDC estimates that more than half of infections in the country are transmitted by asymptomatic people.
In the past week, 2.39% of all tests completed statewide came back positive.