Alaska on Tuesday reported another 16 COVID-19 deaths and 475 new infections.
State health officials have said it’s possible Alaska’s massive surge in cases is leveling off after recording record numbers of infections and hospitalizations last month and in early October. Infection numbers, however, are sill high. The state continues to have the nation’s highest rate of COVID-19 cases.
All of the 16 COVID-19 deaths reported Tuesday happened recently, according to the state Department of Health and Social Services. Ten of the Alaskans were from Anchorage, three were from Fairbanks, two from Kenai and one from Cordova. Most were in their 50s or 60s. One Anchorage man was in his 20s.
A total of 590 Alaskans’ deaths have been linked to COVID-19 since the pandemic started. Alaska continues to have one of the country’s lowest rates of COVID deaths.
By Tuesday afternoon, there were 186 COVID patients in Alaska hospitals, 26 of them on ventilators.
On average, almost 11% of COVID tests in the state have come back positive over the past week. Nearly every part of Alaska remains under “high alert.”
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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.
