Alaska

Flu ‘increased notably’ in Alaska in last month, AK Dept. of Health says

Published

6 months ago

December 28, 2025

Flu ‘increased notably’ in Alaska in last month, AK Dept. of Health says

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – New data shows the number of confirmed Alaska flu cases more than doubled from the last report, according to the Alaska Department of Health (DOH) snapshot data for the week of Dec. 20.

Flu cases have been on the rise since mid-November, according to the updated Alaska Department of Health Respiratory Virus Snapshot published Dec. 20, 2025. This December update saw the largest jump in cases since the increase started, going from 391 lab-confirmed cases the week of Dec. 13 to 816 the week of Dec. 20.

It’s quite a rise from the same time last year, which reported only 108 lab-confirmed cases in the week of Dec. 21, 2024, but the next week, which had the reporting date of Dec. 28, 2024, saw a jump in cases to 484.

And this past week’s numbers rivals the 2025 peak at 990 cases reported March 1, 2025, according to the DOH.

The highest spike of influenza cases reported over the past five years was on Dec. 13, 2022, with 1,621 cases reported that week.

The state reported in the Alaska Influenza Surveillance Summary that last year Alaska saw a “higher number of reported cases than in previous years, with activity more concentrated in a pronounced peak.”

A national trend

The CDC said the flu season is just starting and is potentially gearing up to be substantial.

“I don’t think I ever remember seeing it this severe, this soon,” Dr. Suchitra Rao, an infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, told NBC News. “Our emergency department is full of kids coming in with the flu.”

The CDC said the flu is increasing across the country, but that the timing “is similar to several past seasons.”

The CDC estimates during this season there have been 4.6 million flu cases, 49,000 hospitalizations (a little over 1% of cases) and 1,900 deaths.

Those numbers also rival data from last year, where the CDC estimated 5.3 million cases, 63,000 hospitalizations and 2,700 deaths.

COVID-19 & RSV

The flu is not the only respiratory virus the state is tracking.

As of the latest Department of Health snapshot, 50 cases of COVID-19 were reported have been reported for the week of Dec. 20, a drop from last year’s report of 82 cases during the same time period, the DOH reported.

RSV cases are also lower than previous years right now.

During the week of Dec. 20, 75 cases of RSV were reported, which is much less than the 266 reported cases the same time last year, according to the DOH.

Data over the past five years from the Department of Health shows the months between December and March are when RSV is most active in Alaska, peaking between the last weeks of December to the first weeks of January.

How to stay healthy

The CDC lists several ways to help prevent spreading or catching the flu, but said the “single best way to reduce the risk of seasonal flu and its potentially serious complications is to get vaccinated each year.”

While data from the CDC shows getting vaccinated could decrease a visit to the doctor by 40 to 60%, it doesn’t mean you won’t get sick.

This makes strategies that protect yourself and others from spreading germs all the more important.

Tips from the CDC include: avoiding close contact, staying home if sick, covering mouth and nose (even if not sick), washing hands, avoiding touching eyes, nose or mouth, taking steps for cleaner air and practicing good hygiene.

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Related Topics:AKDOH Alaska department of health Alaska Flu covid 19 Featured flu Flu spike Influenza rsv

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Alaska

Watch My Buddy Matt Not Get Eaten by Bears in Alaska

Published

4 hours ago

July 10, 2026

Press Room

Watch My Buddy Matt Not Get Eaten by Bears in Alaska

I’m typically pretty wordy. But just watch the video.

Disclaimer: Matt Addington is a professional. These bears grazed toward him from 100 yards away while he held tight. Do not try this ever, under any circumstances, or you will likely spend the rest of your time on this earth as bear poop.

Matt Addington is an incredible professional photographer, and I can say that from personal experience. He’s captured images of me in rough shape and somehow made them stunnin’. The Minnesota-based photographer and filmmaker has built a career telling outdoor stories, and his latest bear video proves he knows exactly where to point a camera.

Places like Katmai National Park in Alaska (where this video was taken) can offer unusually close encounters with brown bears, thanks in part to abundant food and tightly managed visitor access. That doesn’t make encounters like this casual or safe to imitate.

Addington is an extremely experienced outdoorsman, and he was photographing with professional guides Scott and Jackie Stone. For people hoping to photograph bears this way, a guided wildlife photography tour is one of the safest ways to do it. Do not try this in Yellowstone or your local national forest.

The bears were grazing nearly 100 yards away when the group set up. They stayed put as the animals continued feeding and gradually moved closer, resulting in some incredible footage and a once-in-a-lifetime photo.

I can only hope he wore his brown pants under his waders.

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Alaska

Black bear breaks into Alaskan mall, eats a peach and relieves itself on floor before leaving: video

Published

15 hours ago

July 10, 2026

Press Room

Black bear breaks into Alaskan mall, eats a peach and relieves itself on floor before leaving: video

Can bearly believe it!

A black bear was caught on camera seemingly running errands at a local shopping mall in Anchorage, Alaska over the weekend.

The bear entered the commissary mall at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson around 9 a.m. Sunday, KTUU reported, citing a JBER spokesperson.

Wild footage shows the young cub strolling through the commissary’s automatic doors and exploring all that the mall had to offer.

The hungry bear stole and ate a piece of fruit before emptying its bowels on the hallway floor on its way out of the building.

Kory Godbout, who works at the barber shop on the military base, was waiting for his first customer of the day when he spotted the furry intruder traveling through the automatic doors.

“My coworker, who is cutting hair in front of me, she yelled, ‘Bear!’” Godbout recalled.

“And I looked up from my phone and the bear was walking into the barber shop right in front of me,” the barber said. “And we all ran into the break room and shut the door behind us.”

After a few minutes, Godbout and his coworkers emerged from the break room and followed the out-of-place bear into the commissary, where it took a peach from the grocery store and ate it.

The barber recalled that a few onlookers were “going big to try and scare” the bear out of the grocery store.

But all of a sudden, the black bear returned to the barber shop.

“By that time, we were able to run back to the shop and then lock the door,” Godbout said.

“And then we were watching him from the window and then that’s when he decided to, you know, use the restroom in the hallway.”

Officers from Conservation Law Enforcement attended the peculiar grizzly scene and were able to direct the wild animal towards a river and into the woods, according to the JBER spokesperson.

JBER’s wildlife program manager Colette Brandt said in a press release that the bear had triggered the automatic doors and that Sunday’s events were entirely incidental, KTUU reported.

While there has been a decline in bear-related calls since the military base installed bear-resistant dumpsters, seven bears have been put down at JBER for public safety over the past year.

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Alaska

Fatal crash closes Glenn Highway southbound lanes near Eagle River

Published

1 day ago

July 9, 2026

Press Room

Fatal crash closes Glenn Highway southbound lanes near Eagle River

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The southbound lanes of the Glenn Highway were closed Thursday morning near the S-curves due to a fatal crash, according to the Anchorage Police Department.

Police confirmed shortly after 11 a.m. that at least one person was dead. As of 12:45 p.m., one southbound lane is now open to traffic.

The southbound lanes of the Glenn Highway were closed July 9, 2026 near the S-curves due to a fatal crash, according to the Anchorage Police Department.(Alaska’s News Source)

An Alaska’s News Source reporter on the scene said the crash took place near the Eagle River Loop Road. Video from the scene shows multiple vehicles took damage in the incident.

This is a developing story. It has been updated with new information.

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