Tracking COVID-19 in Alaska: 95 new cases reported Saturday, no new deaths

Alaska reported 95 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, including three among nonresidents in the state.

Sixty-two of the new cases involve people who live in the Municipality of Anchorage, which is contending with multiple recent outbreaks in communal living sites: 18 cases among staff and residents at the Anchorage Pioneer Home, 61 cases at the Brother Francis Shelter and 16 cases confirmed at the McLaughlin Youth Center.

As of Saturday, 41 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 while two hospital patients were awaiting test results, according to the state’s coronavirus data dashboard. Of Alaska’s 153 intensive unit beds, used for the sickest patients, 73 were available on Saturday.

There were no new deaths reported by the state health department on Saturday. A total of 37 Alaskans with COVID-19 have died since March.

Active cases of COVID-19 among Alaska residents rose from 3,062 on Friday to 3,135 on Saturday. There were an additional 662 active cases among nonresidents by Saturday.

In total, 853 nonresidents and 5,182 residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since March.

Of the new cases, it wasn’t clear how many patients were showing symptoms of the virus when they tested positive.

On Saturday, University of Alaska Fairbanks officials said that 21 of 37 students in quarantine on and off campus were players on the school’s hockey team. One player on the team tested positive for COVID-19 after attending an off-campus party and there have been six COVID-19 cases among the players since Aug. 17, officials from the university said.

Of the 92 new resident cases reported Saturday, 58 involve Anchorage residents. A person from Chugiak and three from Eagle River also tested positive for the virus.

The state on Saturday reported another 30 cases among residents from elsewhere in Alaska: one in Soldotna; 11 in Fairbanks; two in North Pole; two in Wasilla; one in the Nome Census Area; two in Sitka; one in Wrangell; one in Unalaska; one in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area; two in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area; and six in the combined Yakutat and Hoonah-Angoon region.

Additionally, a nonresident in Fairbanks tested positive, as did two others in unknown parts of the state, according to state data..

The state’s testing positivity rate reported Friday was 2.22% over a seven-day rolling average.

— Morgan Krakow

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