Rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, including the delta variant, continues in Alaska, with 2,323 new cases from Aug. 20-25 confirmed by state health officials, as the number of fully vaccinated residents crept up from 53.4% to 54%.
Eleven of those newly confirmed cases are in the Copper River Census Area and one in Cordova.
The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services also noted that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for individuals 16 years and older is now fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and urged everyone not already vaccinated to get the vaccine.
Pfizer’s vaccine was previously approved under an emergency use authorization, as additional data was collected and analyzed. Emergency use authorization continues for individuals aged
12-15, and for administration of a third dose for immunocompromised people.
“Robust clinical trials have shown that the COVID-19 vaccines were safe and effective when they were first authorized in December of 2020,” said Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s chief medical officer. “Now we have even more data supporting the benefits and safety of the Pfizer vaccine.”
On Wednesday, Aug. 25, DHSS said a total of 81,671 residents had been infected with COVID-19 since March of 2020, of whom 1,951 were hospitalized and 427 had died. The increase in new cases was up 19% from a week ago. The latest data, on Aug. 25, included 620 new cases and 11 more deaths.
There are currently 130 people hospitalized with COVID-19, plus two others under investigation for the virus. Thirty of these patients are on ventilators.
A total of 54% of residents ages 12 and older are now fully vaccinated and another 60.2% or 363,599 residents ages 12 and older have received on dose of the vaccine.
The breakout of new cases includes:
- Anchorage, 210
- Wasilla, 57
- Fairbanks, 42
- Juneau, 32
- Nome Census Area, 31
- Palmer, 24
- Homer, 17
- North Pole, 16
- Kodiak, 15
- Kenai, 14
- Chugiak, 10
- Eagle River, Soldotna, 9
- Northwest Arctic Borough, Sitka, 6
- Anchor Point, Nikiski, 5
- Delta Junction, 4
- Copper River Census Area, Girdwood, North Slope Borough, Salcha, Seward, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, 3
- Chevak, Dillingham, Nome, Skagway, Sterling, Unalaska, Willow, Yakutat plus Hoonah-Angoon, 2
- Bethel, Bristol Bay plus Lake & Peninsula boroughs, Craig, Dillingham Census Area, Douglas, Ester, Fritz Creek, Petersburg, Tok, Utqagvik, Valdez and Wrangell, 1
The 47 new nonresident cases reported on Aug. 25 included 12 in Juneau; 10 in Anchorage six each in Fairbanks and Ketchikan; five in Juneau; three in Bristol Bay plus Lake & Peninsula boroughs and also in Wasilla; two in Kenai; and one each in Petersburg, Prudhoe Bay, Sitka, Valdez and one at an undisclosed location.
A total of 2,681,755 tests have been conducted by Aug. 25, with 40,337 of those tests conducted in the previous seven days.
