Slowly but surely, the number of new COVID-19 infections keep rising, even as more people are vaccinated against the virus and state and local social distancing restrictions are eased in an effort to revive Alaska’s faltering economy.
Data compiled by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services for Tuesday, March 16, confirmed 105 more individuals were newly diagnosed with COVID-19, including 102 residents and three nonresidents. On average, over 100 new cases of COVID-19 are confirmed daily statewide.
The list of infected individuals has included a number of workers in the seafood industry, including processing facilities from Anchorage to Unalaska, despite precautions taken by these facilities, who may employ several hundred people to process millions of pounds of wild Alaska seafood. Many businesses still are restricting entry to mask wearers.
Paul Mueller, chief executive officer of Eastern Aleutian Tribes, with headquarters in Anchorage, confirmed on March 16 plans to begin vaccinating a number of seafood workers beginning on Wednesday, March 17, but provided no details. Eastern Aleutian Tribes receives funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide medical, dental, behavioral and wellness services through its community health centers, and also has opted to extend its services to vaccinating seafood workers employed by processors in rural areas,
to help prevent the spread of the virus into coastal communities.
As of March 16, DHSS statistics showed that 60,755 individuals had tested positive for the virus, including 58,258 residents and 2,497 nonresidents, and that 1,334 people have been hospitalized because of the virus. For 302 residents and four nonresidents the virus has proven fatal.
DHSS officials warn that the current statewide alert remains high, with widespread community transmission. The highest number of cases of late have been I the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, the Interior, Anchorage, Southeast Alaska and the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
To date some 1,806,251 tests have been conducted to determine whether individuals have contacted the infection, including over 33,326 tests in the previous week.
Also, to date, 199,274 people have received at least one dose and 137,068 people have been fully vaccinated, DHSS officials said.
