Alaska has five new COVID-19 cases, according to a press release by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services on Sunday. That brings the total number of cases to 319, a tripling of cases since March 28.
The new cases reported April 19 reflect the cases identified in the previous 24-hour period from midnight to 11:59 p.m. on April 18. Three of the new cases are from Anchorage, one is from Palmer and one is from Petersburg. The Anchorage cases include a man ages 40-49, a woman ages 60-69 and a man ages 30-39. The Palmer case is a man ages 60-69 and the Petersburg case is a woman ages 30-39.
No new deaths were reported.
On Saturday, DHSS announced two new cases in Soldotna. That bring’s the city’s total cases of the illness caused by the novel coronavirus to six.
With the addition of Saturday’s two new Soldotna cases, the Kenai Peninsula has a total of 19 residents affected by COVID-19. Of those 19 cases, one was a Homer resident who was tested and isolated in Anchorage, and one was an Anchor Point man in his 30s who died outside of Alaska. There were no new peninsula cases reported on April 19.
The breakdown for the peninsula is: Anchor Point (one), Homer (two), Kenai (four), Seward (three), Soldotna (six) and Sterling (three).
There have been 36 total cumulative hospitalizations — that number includes people who have since died or since recovered and left the hospital. DHSS also reported 37 people currently hospitalized who have tested positive for COVID-19 as well as those under investigation for the disease. As of Saturday, 9,895 Alaskans had been tested for COVID-19.
Alaska’s medical facilities remain well above capacity, with 770 beds being used out of a total of 1,800 beds, 64 intensive care beds out of 195 total, and 26 ventilators used out of 336 available. The facilities used is for all cases, not just for COVID-19 patients.
A total of 153 Alaskans have recovered from the disease so far, including six new cases since Saturday, DHSS announced.
In the United States and territories, there are 755,533 cases and 40,461 deaths. Worldwide, there are 2.4 million cases and 164,937 deaths.
Reach Megan Pacer at mpacer@homernews.com and Michael Armstrong at marmstrong@homernews.com.
