The number of patients in Alaska hospitalized with COVID-19 rose again over the weekend, setting yet another new record.
By Monday, the state health department reported 210 COVID-19 patients in Alaska hospitals — the most ever. Thirty-three of them were on ventilators.
Health care officials have also cautioned that the true number of hospitalizations is likely even higher because the state’s data doesn’t include some long-term coronavirus patients, reported the Anchorage Daily News.
Hospital workers have continued to sound the alarm about the unrelenting surge of COVID-19, driven by the delta variant, straining capacity.
All of Anchorage’s adult ICU beds were listed as full Monday afternoon, according to state data.
And, Alaska ranked second in the nation on Monday for the largest increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the prior two weeks, behind just North Dakota, according to The New York Times.
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The state health department also reported Monday that another Alaskan recently died from COVID-19. The man was from Anchorage and age 80 or older. He is the 445th Alaskan to die from COVID-19, according to the state.
In addition, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital reported Monday that two of its patients had died from COVID in the past 24 hours, one 58 years old and the other 66 years old. The deaths are not yet included in the state’s data.
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The state reported another 1,473 new coronavirus cases over the past three days, with about 35% of the new infections in Anchorage.
Meanwhile, the percent of COVID-19 tests coming back positive in Alaska continues to rise. Over the past week, the average percentage of daily positive tests was 9.25%. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers 5% to be too high.
Tegan Hanlon is the digital managing editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at thanlon@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8447. Read more about Tegan here.
