Alaska on Wednesday reports 573 cases of COVID-19 over 2 days

• Alaska on Wednesday reported 573 cases of COVID-19 over a two-day period.

• Alaska reported 20 additional COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday. Coronavirus deaths are now reported by the state only on Wednesdays, and it wasn’t immediately clear how recently these deaths had occurred. Since the pandemic began two years ago, 1,189 Alaskans and 33 nonresidents have died from the virus.

• The 20 deaths reported Wednesday included five people from Anchorage, three from Kenai, three from Wasilla and one each from Big Lake, Fairbanks, Juneau, Kodiak, Petersburg and small communities in the Bethel Census Area, the Copper River Census Area, the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area and the Yukon Koyukuk Census Area. Six were in their 80s or older, seven were in their 70s, four were in their 60s, one was in their 50s and two were in their 40s. Ten were men and 10 were women.

• By Wednesday, there were 37 COVID-positive patients hospitalized statewide — down six from Monday. About 3% of Alaska’s hospital patients were COVID-positive. One was on a ventilator.

• According to Alaska’s coronavirus variant dashboard, about 44% of the most recently sequenced viruses, from specimens collected in late February, were the BA.2 “stealth” omicron subvariant. BA.2 appears to be more transmissible than other variants but not more virulent, and does not seem to be better at evading immune responses conferred by vaccination or prior infection. Health officials around the world are watching BA.2 closely as some places like the United Kingdom begin to see an uptick in cases driven by the subvariant.

[Latest version of omicron accounts for most new infections in many parts of the U.S., genomics testing shows]

[Moderna says its coronavirus vaccine for young children is safe, but efficacy is a more complicated picture]

• Even though cases have fallen, Alaska’s seven-day new case rate per 100,000 people is currently the second-highest in the nation behind Idaho, according to a CDC tracker.

• As of Wednesday, 64.2% of eligible Alaskans as well as military personnel had completed their primary vaccine series. About 32.4% of Alaska residents age 5 and older are considered up-to-date on their vaccinations, meaning they’ve received a booster or have completed their vaccine series and are not yet due to receive a booster shot.