Alaska reports an increase in COVID-19 cases and rising hospitalizations

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• The Alaska Division of Well being and Social Providers on Wednesday reported 1,479 instances of COVID-19 in Alaska over a seven-day interval. That averages round 211 instances per day. This knowledge doesn’t embody at-home exams, which don’t get reported to the state and have grown in reputation this 12 months.

• By Wednesday, there have been 32 COVID-positive sufferers hospitalized statewide, 12 greater than final week. Lower than 3% of Alaska’s hospital sufferers have been COVID-positive, together with one particular person on a ventilator.

• The state reported 4 extra deaths linked to the virus. In complete, 1,219 COVID-19 deaths amongst Alaska residents and 33 amongst nonresidents have been reported since March 2020. Most of the deaths reported by the state in current weeks occurred weeks to months earlier.

• The areas with the very best case charges this week have been the Northwest Arctic Borough, Nome, the Dillingham space, Sitka and Petersburg — all at greater than 400 instances per 100,000 individuals, which is “numerous COVID exercise,” state officers mentioned in a Wednesday briefing. That knowledge represents reported instances and never at-home exams, however regional ranges nonetheless present a way of bigger case traits, officers say.

• Alaska’s seven-day new case charge per 100,000 individuals fell from fourth-highest within the nation final week to fifth highest this week, in keeping with a CDC tracker.

• In accordance with Alaska’s coronavirus variant dashboard, the overwhelming majority — 91% — of probably the most not too long ago sequenced viruses from specimens collected late in March have been the BA.2 “stealth” omicron subvariant. BA.2 seems to be extra transmissible than different variants however no more virulent or higher at evading immune responses conferred by vaccination or prior an infection.

• As of Wednesday, 64.8% of eligible Alaskans in addition to army personnel had accomplished their main vaccine sequence. That quantity has been very slowly ticking up in current weeks.

• The FDA permitted one other Pfizer or Moderna booster shot for these 50 and older, in addition to for sure youthful people with severely compromised immune techniques, if it’s been a minimum of 4 months since their final vaccination. Details about getting a vaccine shot or booster in Alaska is on the market at covidvax.alaska.gov.

• The state well being division now updates all of its COVID-19 knowledge on Wednesdays solely as an alternative of updating most dashboards thrice per week.

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