Up to date: 5 hours in the past Revealed: 5 hours in the past

Alaska’s COVID-19 case counts dropped barely this week, with the variety of customer instances remaining comparatively excessive as extra vacationers arrived within the state. Listed below are just a few foremost takeaways from the newest information out there from the state Division of Well being and Social Companies:

• By Wednesday, there have been 49 COVID-positive sufferers hospitalized round Alaska, a slight improve from the 46 reported by the state every week earlier however far beneath peak numbers earlier within the pandemic. Simply over 4% of Alaska’s hospital sufferers had been COVID-positive. 4 required a ventilator.

• The state well being division on Wednesday reported 2,268 instances in Alaska over a seven-day interval, a drop from 2,463 instances reported final week. This week’s whole contains 1,775 instances amongst residents and 493 instances amongst nonresidents, and averages out to just about 324 instances per day. That information represents reported instances and never at-home assessments, however can present a way of broader case tendencies, officers say.

• Well being officers say a current rise in customer instances primarily displays the beginning of vacationer season. Lots of the instances contain cruise ship passengers, however the state can also be seeing a rise in nonresident instances outdoors ports in Southeast Alaska, and from industries in addition to tourism.

• Alaska’s seven-day new case charge per 100,000 folks rose to tenth highest within the nation this week, based on a CDC tracker. Nationally, instances have begun to fall once more after rising via a lot of April and Could.

• The areas with the very best seven-day case charges included the Denali Borough, Copper River Census Space, Petersburg Borough, Metropolis and Borough of Juneau and the Yakutat plus Hoonah-Angoon space — all at greater than 400 instances per 100,000 folks.

• The state reported no new deaths linked to the virus. In whole, 1,252 COVID-19 deaths amongst residents and 34 amongst nonresidents have been reported since March 2020. Lots of the deaths reported by the state in current weeks occurred weeks to months earlier.

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• In response to Alaska’s coronavirus variant dashboard, the overwhelming majority of essentially the most lately sequenced viruses had been the BA.2 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 about 6.4% of the instances had been one other new omicron subvariant — BA.2.12.1 — that now makes up a majority of Decrease 48 counts. In Alaska, this information is a delayed reflection of what’s occurring locally due to the prolonged technique of labs sending samples to the state to be sequenced, officers say.

• As of Wednesday, 65.2% of eligible Alaskans in addition to army personnel had accomplished their main vaccine collection. About 30.9% of eligible Alaskans had been thought of up-to-date on their vaccinations with not 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 not less than 4 months since their final vaccination. Details about getting a vaccine shot or booster in Alaska is on the market at covidvax.alaska.gov.

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