State health officials are reporting a new case of COVID-19 in the Juneau area. It’s not clear how the person — who lives in Douglas — contracted the virus.
To date, 34 Juneau residents have tested positive for the virus since March. According to city data 32 of them have recovered.
On Saturday, city employees in Juneau started screening some out-of-state travelers for COVID-19 at the city’s airport. According to a report from the city’s emergency operations center, they performed 76 tests.
Borough-wide, more than 2,500 tests for COVID-19 have been performed. But because some people have been tested more than once — it’s not clear exactly how many Juneau residents have been tested for the virus.
The Juneau resident was one of eight new cases the state health department identified by Saturday. Five of the other people came from Anchorage, one from Eagle River and one from the Kenai Peninsula.
To date, 544 Alaskans have tested positive for the virus; just over 70% of them have recovered. Ten Alaskans have died. State health officials also reported one more positive case in a non-resident this weekend. That person is a seafood worker who is currently in Anchorage. So far, a total of 46 non-residents who have tested positive for the virus while in Alaska.
Elsewhere in the state, a crew member on the Tustumena ferry tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. The ferry was in Unalaska on its first run after coming back in service on June 2. That person, and 16 crew members are now quarantined on board the ship, which is now sailing back to Homer and will not make any stops. The Department of Transportation has cancelled all of its scheduled sailings for now. According to the state, passengers who are currently on the vessel will be screened for the virus when they reach Homer.