More Alaskans are adhering to the state health department advisory to wear a mask when out in public, as the number of those testing positive for novel coronavirus rose to 171 and the death toll to five.
The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services on Sunday, April 4, identified the new cases within the past 24 hours as seven in Anchorage, plus one each in Eagle River/Chugiak, Fairbanks, North Pole, Juneau and Anchor Point.
DHSS officials also said that a middle-aged male developed symptoms and subsequently died of COVID-19 out-of-state on March 29. The second death was an older woman from Fairbanks, who was confirmed to have tested positive on March 27 and died on April 3.
Of the 13 new cases, not including the death, seven are male and six female. One patient is aged 10-19, two aged 20-29, two aged 30-39, four aged 40-49, two aged 50-59, 1 aged 60-69 and one aged 70-79, DHSS officials said.
The statewide breakdown now stands at 81 in the Anchorage area, 46 in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, 14 in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, 13 in the Juneau City and Borough, 11 in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, four in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and one each in the Yukon-Koyukuk census area and the Petersburg Borough, the last being a Petersburg resident who died in a Washington state hospital.
Even as the number of confirmed cases rose, state health officials commended Alaskans for helping to slow the spread of the pandemic, buying time for building capability to deal with more illness.
Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s chief medical officer, is now urging Alaskans to wear a mask while out in public areas, taking care to be sure it covers the nose and mouth. “You don’t want it hanging down,” she said. “When you remove the face mask, avoid touching your face and wash your hands afterward.”
A COVID-19 health alert from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services advises that such masks should stay on the face until one returns home, that hands should be washed immediately after removing the mask and that the mask should then be washed in hot soapy water between uses. Masks should be washed in hot soapy water between uses.
Everyone should continue to maintain at least a 6-foot distance between themselves and others, hunker down at home as much as possible, avoid touching faces and wash hands frequently, DHSS officials said.
Cloth face coverings can be made at low cost from a variety of materials, including cotton, silk or linen, improvised from household items such as scarfs, T-shirts, sweatshirts or towels DHSS officials said. Directions for making your own can be found on videos including https://youtu.be/VgHrnS6n4iA and https://youtu.be/1r2C1zGUHbU
Meanwhile, the efforts to date by Alaskans to contain spread of the virus are giving state health officials time to better prepare for more people testing positive, Zink said.
“Just over 2 percent of the tests for COVID-19 are coming back positive,” she said. “The work Alaskans are doing to flatten the curve is tremendous.”
She once again praised individuals and private entities who are pitching in to make personal protective equipment, including distilleries and breweries that are producing hand sanitizer, and individuals helping with special needs, like delivering groceries to those in need. All this is allowing state medical officials to build capacity to treat patients yet to come, she said.
Other state officials focused more on the economic fallout to date in Alaska, the rising number of people applying for unemployment and state and federal economic efforts to ease the economic situation.
According to state Labor Commissioner Tamika Ledbetter 13,774 new unemployment applications were filed over the past week, up 76 percent over a week earlier.
Some 1,203,435 people worldwide have so far tested positive for COVID-19, with 64,999 deaths, but another 248,025 people have totally recovered.
