Another Alaskan reportedly has died due to COVID-19 and 147 more Alaskans have tested positive for the coronavirus. Four nonresidents visiting or working in the state have also tested positive for the virus, the state says.
Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) announced the new death and 151 new COVID-19 cases in Alaska on its social media pages on Saturday, August 1. The new case data was reported on July 31. It was the third death in three days, bringing the total number of deaths connected to COVID-19 to 24. The patient who died was a male Anchorage resident in his 50s with underlying conditions.
The number of reported active cases of COVID-19 in the state has more than quadrupled since July 1. The state is reporting 2,182 active cases and 930 recovered cases on its Alaska Coronavirus Response Hub.
The 147 Alaskans are residents in 15 communities. Anchorage saw the highest increase of cases at 109. Wasilla has nine of the new cases. Palmer has eight. Homer has six new cases. Fairbanks has five of the new cases. One resident reportedly has contracted the virus in each of the communities of Bethel, Cordova, Eagle River, Kenai, Ketchikan, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Sitka, Soldotna, Sutton-Alpine and Willow.
Four new nonresidents also tested positive for the coronavirus. One of those cases is a nonresident with a purpose in Alaska still under investigation. One seafood industry worker in the Kodiak Island Borough tested positive for the virus. In Juneau City and Borough, one mining industry worker and one nonresident with a purpose in Alaska still under investigation both tested positive for the coronavirus.
DHSS is reporting the total number of Alaska resident cases at 3,136 and the total number of nonresident cases to be 691.
Seventy-six of the 147 Alaska residents who have reportedly contracted the coronavirus are male and 71 are female. Six are children under the age of 10; 20 are aged 10-19; 38 are aged 20-29; 25 are aged 30-39; 15 are aged 40-49; 20 are aged 50-59; 13 are aged 60-69; six are aged 70-79 and four are aged 80 or older.
The state says a total number of 133 Alaskans have been hospitalized with COVID-19. No new hospitalizations were reported yesterday.
Twenty-three Alaskans who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 are currently in the hospital, the state says. An additional 14 patients are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 37 current COVID-related hospitalizations.
Health officials have conducted a total number of 238,633 COVID-19 tests statewide. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous three days is 2.81%, which is up from a 3-day average of 2.52% reported on July 31.
DHSS says its data dashboard will have a change in structure that will go live on Tuesday, August 4, 2020. The new data structure will allow users to filter COVID-19 case information by occurrence and residence status.
