A 30-year-old Fairbanks man recently died of COVID-19, according to a report by health officials on Saturday. This brings the number of COVID-19-related deaths across the state to 223.
Alaska reported 378 new COVID-19 cases Saturday, of which 51 in Fairbanks, 13 in the North Pole and eight elsewhere in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, according to data provided by the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Anchorage saw 119 new cases, Wasilla saw 39, Palmer 14 and Kenai 11.
“You can see that overall they continued to decline,” Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s chief physician, said in a video update Friday. “However, we are starting to see, unfortunately, a bit of plateau and, in some areas, we are starting to see an increase in cases.”
In the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the test positive rate for the last seven days is 6.44%, indicating a large-scale community transmission.
To help slow the virus, health officials continue to encourage the public to wear masks, keep their distance and avoid gatherings larger than their immediate circle.
With regard to testing for COVID-19, in addition to recommending those with symptoms and travelers to be tested, officials suggest surveillance tests – weekly or weekly – tests for people who regularly interact with people outside their household, at work or otherwise.
The new COVID-19 variant
A new, more transmissible variant found in other countries has not been reported in Alaska, but health officials are closely monitoring the situation.
The mutant virus does not lead to more severe diseases, but due to its highly communicable nature, more people are prone to contract it and, as a result, more people could die, state epidemiologist Joe McLaughlin told a news conference. Thursday’s press release.
Current COVID-19 vaccines are effective against the new variant of the virus, but at some point the virus could move to the point where we need an updated vaccine, McLaughlin explained.
To date, at least 25,085 Alaskans have been vaccinated.
Contact staff writer Alena Naiden at 459-7587. Follow her to twitter.com/FDNMlocal.