Four new hospitalizations as Alaska reports 57 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday

A scanning electron micrograph of a cell (blue) heavily infected with particles of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Image captured from a patient sample at a federal lab in Maryland. (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

Alaska health officials reported 57 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday: 53 in Alaskans and five in non-residents.

Of the resident cases, 34 are from the Municipality of Anchorage, six are from the Fairbanks North Star Borough, three are from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, three are from the Valdez-Cordova Census Area, two are from the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, two are from the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, one is from Juneau, one is from the Kusilvak Census Area and one is from the Kodiak Island Borough.

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Of the nonresident cases, three tested positive in Anchorage, where two are identified as visitors and one is identified as a tourist. The fourth nonresident case was in a person whose location and visit purpose were both listed as “unknown.”

Four more people were hospitalized who have COVID-19, bringing the total number of people hospitalized since the start of the pandemic to 96. There are currently 32 people in the hospital who have been diagnosed with COVID or who are suspected to have the disease.

The total number of COVID-19 cases among Alaskans since March now stands at 1,631, with 945 active cases, 669 recoveries and 17 deaths.

Alaska hospitals are reporting that 783 of their 1,400 inpatient beds are in use, and 87 of 169 ICU beds and 29 of 284 ventilators are currently in use both by COVID and non-COVID patients.

A total of 156,093 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the state, up about 6,620 from Tuesday’s report.

A previous version of this article reported one additional nonresident case based on DHSS data. That number has been changed to reflect that there were four nonresident cases.

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