Three additional Kenai Peninsula residents have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Thursday, according to the latest update from the state’s Coronavirus Response Hub.
The three Kenai Peninsula cases include two Homer residents and one Soldotna resident. The Homer News reported Thursday that the two new Homer cases are staff members at the Friendship Terrace assisted living home, and all residents of the facility have since been tested for COVID-19 and are isolating in their apartments while they await results.
Thursday’s case count update brings the number of active cases on the peninsula to 65, with the majority of cases either in Homer or under the category “other south,” meaning the resident lives in a community of fewer than 1,000 people on the southern peninsula.
Of the active cases on the peninsula, Anchor Point has four active cases, Homer has 20, Kenai has eight, Nikiski has five, Seward has one, Soldotna has seven, one is in the category “other north” and 19 are under the category “other south.”
Statewide, 17 new resident cases were reported Thursday, bringing the number of active resident cases to 202 and the total number of resident cases to 610. An additional seven nonresident cases were reported on the state’s case count hub Thursday, bringing that total to 58 nonresidents who have tested positive in the state. Most of them are workers in the seafood industry.
Currently, 17 people are hospitalized statewide who are either COVID-positive or are under investigation. The last hospitalization of a confirmed COVID-19 patient took place on May 30, according to the state’s data. Only 28 of the state’s 348 ventilators are currently in use for both COVID-19 and non-COVID patients, and 86 of the 198 ICU beds statewide are occupied.
A total of 69,011 tests have been administered statewide for a positivity rate of .61% based on a three-day rolling average.
For the latest information on the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, visit covid19.alaska.gov or email covidquestions@alaska.gov.
Reach reporter Brian Mazurek at bmazurek@peninsulaclarion.com.
