Updated 7:20 p.m. June 21.
Thirty-three new residents tested positive for COVID-19 during the weekend, along with four additional nonresidents, boosting the statewide count of COVID-19 cases in Alaska to 755, plus 106 nonresidents, mostly seafood industry workers.
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services officials said on Sunday, June 21, that 12 more residents and two nonresidents tested positive, the day after 21 residents and two non-residents also were confirmed to have the novel coronavirus causing a worldwide pandemic.
As of June 21, 475 patients had recovered, four of them during the weekend, and there were still 268 active cases. The death toll stands at 12.
The latest resident infections include six in Anchorage, two in North Pole and one each in the Bristol Bay Borough, Fairbanks, Homer and Palmer. The two nonresidents, neither of them seafood workers, tested positive in the municipality of Anchorage and the Prince of Wales-Hyder census area.
State health officials said 88,051 individuals have now been tested for COVID-19, with the average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous three days is 0.71 percent.
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services officials said most of the seafood industry cases have been identified through testing required as part of an employer’s protection plan, and the individuals were in quarantine at the time they were identified.
A total of 61 people have been hospitalized, the latest reported on Saturday, June 20.
Two hospitalizations were added to the list on Friday, June 21, after state officials received information from Providence Transitional Care Center in Anchorage, but did not occur on that date. Two other care center residents are among the 12 who have died.
Last week, after an employee of the Fairbanks Pioneer Home tested positive for the novel coronavirus, all residents and staff of the home were tested. Testing of residents and staff at the other Pioneer Homes is also underway. In addition to the standard practice of testing any staff and residents who have symptoms, the feasibility of testing staff every two weeks is being evaluated, state health officials said.
All Alaska Pioneer Homes have been closed to visitors since March 17.
A total of 86,918 people in Alaska have been tested.
Updates on the impact of COVID-19 are posted online daily at https://coronavirus-response-alaska-dhss.hub.arcgis.com
