For the period of Dec. 4 to Dec. 10, 322 new resident COVID-19 cases were reported. Case counts are down from last week, when officials reported 422 new resident cases for the period of Nov. 27 to Dec. 3.
For the most recent week, 30 cases were reported in the Kenai Peninsula Borough. This is down from 34 last week.
A data issue caused a delay in updates to the Alaska COVID-19 Hospital Data Dashboard this week, so no up-to-date information is available for hospitalization counts.
The state reported no new resident deaths from COVID-19 this week. Deaths are reported in batches, as they are confirmed by the state. This is the longest stretch without an update to the count of resident deaths since the state shifted to the batch model in early August, as no deaths have been added to the count since Nov. 15. Statewide, 1,399 people have died as a result of COVID-19, with 119 of those being Kenai Peninsula Borough residents.
Officials recommend all eligible Alaskans be up to date on their COVID vaccines to minimize the infection’s impact on communities. Anyone 6 months and older is eligible for a primary vaccination series and everyone 5 and up can receive a booster.
An updated bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccine is available in Alaska. These are designed to tackle both the original COVID-19 strain as well as the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of omicron. State health officials say that BA.5 is being detected in the majority of COVID-19 cases in Alaska.
This new booster is available to eligible individuals at least two months after their last shot, whether that was a booster dose or their primary vaccine series.
Boosters are recommended whether or not a person has already contracted the virus.
As of Wednesday, 57.1% of Alaskans have completed a primary series of the COVID-19 vaccine. Only 10.1% are up to date on their vaccine and have received the bivalent booster. In the Kenai Peninsula Borough, 9.5% are up to date on their vaccine. In the borough, 48.9% — nearly half of all individuals — have not received even a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
For more information on vaccine eligibility, visit https://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/epi/id/pages/covid-19/vaccineinfo.aspx.
A map of vaccine providers can be found on DOH’s COVID-19 vaccine website at covidvax.alaska.gov.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
