Alaska reports 21 COVID deaths and thousands of new cases

A woman swabs someone's nose.
Dr. Ellen Hodges tests a Bethel resident at a COVID-19 testing event hosted by the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation in 2020. (Katie Basile/KYUK)

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services on Monday reported 5,759 new COVID-19 cases over the prior three days.

The new case count on Friday totaled more than 3,000, with new infections over the weekend dropping to fewer than 1,500 each day. The numbers do not include at-home test results.

It’s not yet clear whether this weekend’s decline in new cases will continue — and whether it’s due to reduced spread, fewer people seeking tests over the weekend, limited test availability or an increased reliance on at-home tests.

The state health department on Monday also reported another 21 Alaskan deaths due to COVID-19. Two of them are from last week, and the rest happened earlier in the pandemic, according to state data.

Across the state, 139 patients were hospitalized with the coronavirus on Monday. There were 30 adult ICU beds available, six of them in Anchorage.

[Sign up for Alaska Public Media’s daily newsletter to get our top stories delivered to your inbox.]

Previous articleAlaska News Nightly: Monday, January 24, 2022
Next articleFederal disasters declared for 14 Alaska fisheries