The number of active COVID-19 infections among Alaskans now tops 900.
On Monday, the state reported another 60 Alaska residents have tested positive for the virus, plus 11 nonresidents.
One more person has become sick enough to require hospitalization. The state reported no new deaths.
Alaska’s latest COVID-19 case count follows Sunday’s report of more than 100 new infections — a daily record for the state.
The total number of COVID-19 cases among Alaskans since March now totals 1,539. That includes 620 considered recovered, 902 still active and 17 deaths. In addition, there have been 306 cases among nonresidents.
State officials have said they expected cases to rise as the economy reopens. But, the Anchorage Health Department is warning that employees tasked with investigating the infections are overwhelmed.
“We are in the middle of a significant COVID-19 case spike,” Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said in a statement Monday. “Our contact tracing capacity has been overwhelmed, and we must defend our hospital capacity.”
Contact tracing is critical, Berkowtiz said, because it allows the city to track who has the virus so it can better contain it.
A majority of the new cases reported Monday were tied to Anchorage.
The new cases reported Monday among Alaskans are:
- 34 residents from the Municipality of Anchorage
- 11 from the Fairbanks North Star Borough
- 5 from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough
- 3 from the Kenai Peninsula Borough
- 2 from the Bethel area
- 2 from Bristol Bay and the Lake and Peninsula area
- 1 each from the Kodiak Island Borough, the Northwest Arctic Borough and the North Slope Borough
Of the nonresident cases, eight tested positive in Anchorage. Two are tourists. The reasons the others are visiting Anchorage are not listed in the state database.
Another two nonresident cases are in Fairbanks. One is a visitor and the reason for the second person’s visit is listed as “other.”
One non-Alaskan tested positive in the Kenai Peninsula Borough. The visit purpose is also listed as “other.”
Meanwhile, the state is reporting 690 hospital beds are available and 261 ventilators. There are 22 people in the hospital in Alaska with COVID-19 or suspected to have the disease.
A total of 146,590 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the state, up about 1,100 from Sunday’s report.
Elsewhere in the country, surging case counts are driving a second round of restrictions in some cities and states, including California. Alaska is among more than 30 other states where new cases are increasing, The New York Times reports.
This story has been updated.