Another Alaskan has died from COVID-19 as the state report again breaks its record for the highest single-day jump in new infections.
State health officials reported that by Thursday, 60 people had tested positive for the virus. That’s 46 people who are from Alaska and 14 non-residents who are in the state for work or as visitors.
The Alaskan who died was a man in his 80s from Anchorage. He died in early June, and COVID-19 was listed as a contributing cause of death, according to the state health department. He is the 15th Alaskan to die with the disease.
“We are thinking of the loved ones of the person who died,” Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, said in a statement.
Among the new COVID-19 cases among Alaskans from Thursday, Anchorage saw the highest numbers with 19 infections. Fairbanks reported 11 new cases. There are also cases scattered along the Kenai Peninsula, the Valdez-Cordova area, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the Nome Census Area, the Juneau area, Bethel and the Kusilvak Census Area.
Among residents, case reporting reflects where people are from and not necessarily where they are currently located.
Cases among non-residents are identified by where they are when they test positive. Among those cases are two people in Seward — one is in the tourism industry and it’s not clear why the other is there. Two people are in Fairbanks, it’s also unclear why they are visiting there. The state didn’t list the reasons in its database. Seven new cases are people in the seafood industry in the Bristol Bay and Lake and Peninsula regions — one of those is a visitor in the Dillingham Census Area.
That brings the total number of Alaskans who have tested positive for COVID-19 to 1,063. Just over half of them have recovered, and there are currently 509 Alaskans who are currently sick.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 223 nonresidents have tested positive while in Alaska — it’s not clear how many of them have recovered.
