COVID-19 hospitalizations and new circumstances reported to Alaska’s well being division elevated up to now week because the “stealth” omicron subvariant remained prevalent. A brand new variant driving up circumstances within the Decrease 48, nonetheless, is beginning to arrive in Alaska.
Whereas the state’s weekly knowledge doesn’t replicate house check outcomes, public well being officers say it ought to usually replicate broader pandemic traits.
The Alaska Division of Well being and Social Companies now updates all of its COVID-19 knowledge solely on Wednesdays. Listed below are a number of predominant takeaways from the most recent knowledge out there:
• By Wednesday, there have been 41 COVID-positive sufferers hospitalized round Alaska, a rise from 33 every week earlier however nonetheless far beneath peak numbers earlier within the pandemic. Simply over 3% of Alaska’s hospital sufferers had been COVID-positive. 4 required a ventilator.
• The areas with the very best per capita case charges this week included Skagway, Ketchikan Gateway Borough and the Northwest Arctic Borough, all at greater than 400 circumstances per 100,000 folks. That knowledge represents reported circumstances and never at-home exams, however regional ranges present a way of bigger case traits, officers say.
• The state well being division on Wednesday reported 1,525 circumstances of COVID-19 in Alaska over a seven-day interval, a 6% enhance in comparison with final week. That’s a mean of practically 218 circumstances per day. This knowledge doesn’t embrace at-home exams, which don’t get reported to the state and have grown in recognition this 12 months. The exams are efficient however could not detect constructive outcomes as early because the PCR exams utilized in scientific settings.
• The state reported 15 extra deaths linked to the virus. Extra data wasn’t instantly out there. In whole, 1,235 COVID-19 deaths amongst residents and 33 amongst nonresidents have been reported since March 2020. Most of the deaths reported by the state in latest weeks occurred weeks to months earlier.
• Alaska’s seven-day new case fee per 100,000 folks fell to seventeenth highest within the nation this week, in line with a CDC tracker.
• In accordance with Alaska’s coronavirus variant dashboard, the overwhelming majority of probably the most lately sequenced viruses had been the BA.2 stealth omicron subvariant, which seems extra transmissible than different variants however no more virulent or higher at evading immune responses conferred by vaccination or prior an infection. However a number of new circumstances of a more moderen omicron variant are beginning to present up right here, chief medical officer Dr. Anne Zink stated in a briefing Wednesday.
• As of Wednesday, 65% of eligible Alaskans in addition to navy personnel had accomplished their major vaccine sequence. That quantity has been very slowly ticking up in latest weeks. Simply over 31% of eligible persons are totally vaccinated with no less than one booster.
• The FDA authorised one other Pfizer or Moderna booster shot for these 50 and older, in addition to for sure youthful people with severely compromised immune methods, if it’s been no less than 4 months since their final vaccination. Details about getting a vaccine shot or booster in Alaska is accessible at covidvax.alaska.gov.