COVID-19 cases continue to spike in Alaska, as state officials urge everyone to celebrate the Fourth of July with caution and practice social distancing.
“This thing is a pain in the neck,” said Gov. Mike Dunleavy, during a pandemic news conference on Tuesday, June 30. “We don’t know where it’s going to go. We have a lot of balls in the air we are juggling with this pandemic. We’re all trying to learn as quickly as possible and make the best decisions that we can.”
Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s medical director, said that contrary to plans to limit testing for the virus that the state was trying to find ways to expand it.
Forty-eight new cases of COVID-19 were reported on June 30, including 36 residents of eight communities, bringing the total of Alaska cases to 940, with 526 recovered. Hospitalizations total 67 and the death toll remains at 14.
The newly infected include 21 in Anchorage, five in Fairbanks, four in Seward, two in Palmer and one each in Eagle River, Juneau, Soldotna and the Valdez-Cordova census area.
Twelve new nonresident cases include five seafood workers in the combined Bristol Bay and Lake & Peninsula boroughs; two tourism and one other in the Kenai Peninsula Borough; two seafood workers in the city and borough of Sitka; one from an unknown industry in the municipality of Anchorage; and one seafood worker in the Dillingham census area.
Twenty-five new cases were reported on Monday, June 29, among them 21 residents of eight communities and four nonresidents, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services said.
“We are definitely seeing a sharp increase in cases in Alaska, and just like in other states, many of the recent new cases are in youth or younger adults,” Zink said. “Some of these cases are linked to bars in several communities. Going to a bar right now, especially to listen to a concert, should be viewed as a high-risk activity. The virus can spread easily in crowded indoor spaces especially when people are close together and singing or talking.”
A total of 112,185 tests have now been conducted. The average percentage of daily positive test for the previous three days as of June 30 was 1.48 percent.
Updates on the impact of COVID-19 are posted daily at coronavirus-response-alaska-dhss.hub.arcgis.com.
