State health officials confirmed 2,842 new resident cases of COVID-19 from Oct. 15-18, plus 57 more nonresident cases, raising the resident infection toll to 125,445 individuals, of whom 659 have succumbed to the virus.
The new data, released on Tuesday, Oct. 19, included 10 new patients in the Copper River Census Area and one in Cordova, plus a total of 213 new hospitalizations over the previous four-day period, which included the Alaska Day holiday on Monday, Oct. 18.
The current statewide COVID-19 alert level, based on reported cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days, remained among the highest in the nation. To date, 59.5% of Alaskans 12 and older have been fully vaccinated, while 64.3% of Alaskans 12 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose. Pharmacies in Alaska are also administering booster shots to fully vaccinated people who are elderly, immune compromised, have other special health conditions and work in medical facilities.
Sixty-five additional resident deaths and one non-resident death were also reported for the same period. The death toll is updated from medical records received by the state and reflects 10 recent deaths as well as some that occurred earlier in the year.
The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services said the new figures indicated a 4% increase in the patient caseload over the previous week.
The latest newly diagnosed cases, by area, include:
- Anchorage, 964
- Wasilla, 361
- Fairbanks, 219
- Palmer, 162
- Juneau, 87
- Soldotna, 86
- Kenai, 85
- North Pole, 75
- Bethel Census Area, 74 in 17 communities
- Eagle River, 71
- Kodiak, 53
- Northwest Arctic Borough, 38 in 4 communities
- Dillingham Census Area, 35 in 4 communities
- North Slope Borough, 34 in 4 communities
- Kusilvak Census Area, 30 in 2 communities
- Valdez, 29
- Nome, 24
- Nome Census Area, 24 in 5 communities
- Kenai Peninsula Borough North, 23 in 2 communities
- Homer, 21
- Ketchikan, Willow, 19
- Chugiak, Delta Junction, 17
- Kotzebue, Sterling, 16; Yakutat and Hoonah-Angoon, 16 in 3 communities
- Utqiagvik, 15; Yukon-Koyukuk Census area 15 in 4 communities
- Mat-Su Borough, 13
- Sutton-Alpine, 12
- Bethel, 11
- Copper River Census area, 10 in 3 communities
- Big Lake 9; Bristol Bay plus Lake and Peninsula boroughs, 9 in 4 communities
- Nikiski, 8
- Anchor Point, Ester, 7
- Dillingham, Houston 6, Kenai Peninsula Borough South, 6 in 2 communities; Sitka, 6
- Girdwood, 4
- Aleutians West Census Area, Healy, Petersburg, Unalaska, 3
- Denali Borough, Salcha, Seward, Tok, 2; Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area 2 in 2 communities
- Cordova, Kodiak Island Borough, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Wrangell, 1
The 57 new nonresident cases included one in the Copper River Census Area.
A total of 3,225,924 tests for COVID-19 infections have been conducted in Alaska since March 2020, including 42,739 in the seven days ended on Oct. 18. The average percentage of daily positive tests for those seven days was 11%.
