COVID-19 cases around the state, and on the Kenai Peninsula, continued to climb steadily this week.

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services announced 413 new cases statewide on Wednesday (405 Alaska residents and eight nonresidents), 42 of which are on the peninsula and two of which are among residents of Homer.

Of the other new cases announced on the Peninsula on Wednesday, Kenai had 17, Soldotna had 16, Sterling had three, and Nikiski and Seward had two each.

The state reported 2,602 new COVID-19 cases over the week of Oct. 25-31, a 29% increase over the previous week, according to this week’s DHSS weekly case update.

There are now a cumulative total of 16,764 resident cases of COVID-19 in the state along with 1,096 nonresident cases.

Of the Alaska resident cases, 6,475 are considered recovered while 10,205 are still active. Fornonresidents, 649 cases are considered recovered while 447 cases are still active.

There have been a cumulative total of 463 hospitalizations in Alaska for COVID-19 (eight of them being nonresidents). That number does not include people who have since died or since recovered and been released. As of Wednesday, there were 86 people actively being hospitalized for positive COVID-19 cases, along with another nine people being hospitalized for suspected cases. That brings the percent of COVID-19 positive people in Alaska who have been hospitalized up to 10.3%.

The state has recorded 84 deaths of Alaska residents that were tied to COVID-19.

Of the new COVID-19 cases announced Wednesday, there are 157 in Anchorage, 66 in Wasilla, 39 in Fairbanks, 17 in Kenai, 16 in Soldotna, 14 in Juneau, 13 in North Pole, 12 in the Bethel Census Area, nine in Palmer, eight in Bethel, seven each in Eagle River and Big Lake, six in Kodiak, five in Sitka, three each in Sterling and the Northwest Arctic Borough, two each in Homer, Nikiski, Seward, the Valdez-Cordova Census Area, the Nome Census Area and Kotzebue, and one each in Chigiak, the Denali Borough, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Delta Junction, the Yukon Koyukuk Census Area, Willow, Utqiagvik, Ketchikan, the Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, the Aleutians East Borough, and Chevak.

The state also reported eight new nonresident cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday — three in Anchorage, one in Soldotna, one in Delta Junction, one in Prudhoe Bay and two in unknown locations.

Alaska’s state laboratory in Anchorage currently has a turnaround time for tests of 2.6 days, according to DHSS data. The state has conducted a total of 627,758 COVID-19 tests, with a positivity rate of 7.12% as of Tuesday, according to the state’s coronavirus response hub.

Locally, South Peninsula Hospital has conducted a total of 11,491 COVID-19 tests, with 11,200 of them coming back negative so far and 128 still pending, according to hospital Public Information Officer Derotha Ferraro. The hospital has identified a total of 163 positive test results.

The NCT Community Clinic in Ninilchik has conducted a total of 2,666 COVID-19 tests, with 84 total positives, according to clinic data updated on Oct. 30.

SVT Health & Wellness (which has clinics in Seldovia, Homer and Anchor Point) has done a total of 855 tests so far, with 837 of them coming back negative and 18 total positive results.

Testing locations on the Kenai Peninsula:

Free COVID-19 tests are offered 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week at the lower level of the South Peninsula Hospital Specialty Clinic, at 4201 Bartlett Street, Homer. Please use the Danview Avenue access. Tests are for those who have had recent travel out of state, have been exposed to someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19, have new onset of any symptom related to COVID-19, or have a provider referral. See the complete list of eligible individuals at www.sphosp.org or call the COVID information line at 235-0235. Please call and pre-register before coming if and when possible.

Testing is also available through the SVT Health & Wellness clinics in Homer, Seldovia and Anchor Point. Call ahead at 907-226-2228.

In Ninilchik, NTC Community Clinic is providing testing on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The testing is only for those traveling, symptomatic, needing testing for medical procedures, or with a known exposure after seven days. Only 20 tests will be offered per day. To make an appointment to be tested at the NTC Community Clinic, call 907-567-3970.

On the central peninsula, testing is available at Capstone Family Clinic, K-Beach Medical, Soldotna Professional Pharmacy, Central Peninsula Urgent Care, Peninsula Community Health Services, Urgent Care of Soldotna, the Kenai Public Health Center and Odyssey Family Practice. Call Kenai Public Health at 907-335-3400 for information on testing criteria for each location.

In Seward, testing is available at Providence Seward, Seward Community Health Center, Glacier Family Medicine and North Star Health Clinic.

Reach Megan Pacer at mpacer@homernews.com.