A Kenai resident was one of two new positive cases of COVID-19 announced by Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services Thursday. The other case reported was a resident of Eagle River.
The cases in Kenai and Eagle River reported on Thursday bring the state’s total count to 374, with 291 of those cases fully recovered. No new hospitalizations or deaths were reported Thursday. The state has had 10 residents die — including two residents of the peninsula — and 38 hospitalized since the outbreak of the disease.
A third case of COVID-19 was reported Wednesday by the city of Cordova, but was not included in the state’s total case count because the person is not an Alaska resident, according to a May 7 press release from DHSS. The case is being investigated by DHSS and has been recorded as an out-of-state case on Alaska’s coronavirus data dashboard.
Of the two new cases, the Kenai resident is a man between the ages of 20-29, and the Eagle River resident is a woman between the ages of 30-39.
The 38 hospitalizations are cumulative and include people that were previously hospitalized and have since either recovered or died. Currently, 12 people are hospitalized across the state who are either COVID positive or are under investigation.
As of Thursday, 24,341 tests for COVID-19 have been conducted in the state. Locally, Central Peninsula Hospital has collected 597 test samples as of Thursday, with 554 negative results, six positive results and 37 samples still awaiting analysis.
South Peninsula Hospital has collected 459 samples as of Thursday, with 387 negative results, four positive and 68 pending results.
The 374 cases in Alaska are spread across 26 different communities. In the Anchorage municipality, 169 Anchorage residents, six Chugiak residents, 13 Eagle residents and three Girdwood residents have been confirmed positive. In the Fairbanks North Star Borough, 64 Fairbanks residents, 18 North Pole residents and one resident from an unidentified community have been confirmed positive. In the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Palmer has nine cases, and Wasilla has 12. In Southeast Alaska, Juneau has 27 cases, Ketchikan has 16, Petersburg has four and Craig has two. Kodiak, Delta Junction, Tok, Nome, Sitka, Bethel, and the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area each have one case. Cases within communities of fewer than 1,000 people are included in the count for their census area but are not reported individually.
On the Kenai Peninsula, 23 residents have tested positive for COVID-19. Two are from Anchor Point, four are from Homer, five are from Kenai, three are from Seward, six are from Soldotna and three are from Sterling. Both of the Anchor Point residents who tested positive have died: a man in his 30s who died while out of state and a man in his 80s who died Wednesday after being admitted to South Peninsula Hospital.
See the press release on the latest cases here.
For the latest information on Alaska’s response to COVID-19, visit covid19.alaska.gov.
For the latest on the national response to the pandemic, visit the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here.
For the latest on the global response to the pandemic, visit the World Health Organization’s website at www.who.int.
