Alaska reported 526 positive COVID-19 cases in a single day, shattering the daily record for the second straight day, the state Department of Health and Social Services reported Sunday.
“Alaska, we need your help, we are on a fast acceleration,” wrote Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer in a Facebook post in advance of the new numbers.
Six of the new cases were found in nonresidents, while the rest were Alaskans.
While the number broke Saturday’s record 355 cases, DHSS said in a Saturday press release that some of the new cases were due to a backlog in reporting cases because of the recent high numbers.
The numbers follow over a month of triple-digit daily case counts.
While Anchorage continues to account for more cases than any other region, Western Alaska has seen alarmingly high rates. The Kusilvak Census area, which encompasses several villages at the Yukon River Delta in Western Alaska, has the tenth highest case rate of any county in the country over the past two weeks, according to rankings by the New York Times.
A weekly summary from DHSS also warned that the rate of case increases could be much faster than was originally thought. Accounting for data from the last week, the state could have its case numbers double just in every 22 days.
The high case counts of the last month are putting strain on several areas of the state’s COVID-19 prevention infrastructure. Contact tracing efforts have been stressed to the point where they are delayed in contacting Alaskans who have tested positive for COVID-19.
Testing data also indicates that not enough testing is being done in many areas, which means there could be many more positive tests than are reported. And hospital ICU capacity is also showing stress, with just 13 free ICU beds in Anchorage, where most of Alaska’s healthcare capacity is.
Hospitalization numbers in this story have been updated with more recent numbers.
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October 26, 2020 at 03:06AM
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Officials appeal to Alaskans for help as state reports 526 COVID-19 cases Sunday - Alaska Public Media News
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