Alaska reports 114 new virus cases and no new deaths

Alaska reported 114 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, extending a surge in cases that started in late May.

The new cases involve 108 residents and six nonresidents, bringing the cumulative total of active virus cases between the two groups to 2,591, the state’s coronavirus data hub showed Friday. Since March, 2,990 residents and 687 nonresidents in Alaska have tested positive for the virus.

Statewide as of Friday, 133 people confirmed to have COVID-19 required hospitalization at some point, an increase of five from the previous day. But state data showed current hospitalizations for COVID-19 patients dropped to 28, down from 37 the previous day, while there were 12 people currently hospitalized who were under investigation for the illness as well. Twenty-three Alaskans have died with the virus.

The Municipality of Anchorage saw the bulk of the new cases reported Friday, with 73 new cases among Anchorage residents and three among Eagle River residents.

In the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the state reported new cases involving five residents and one nonresident in Wasilla, two Palmer residents, one Houston resident and one Big Lake resident.

Farther north, 11 Fairbanks residents and two North Pole residents tested positive.

State data updated Friday also showed there were two new resident cases in Kenai, three in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area and one resident case each in Juneau, Unalaska, Valdez and smaller communities in both the Valdez-Cordova Census Area and the combined Yakutat and Hoonah-Angoon region.

Of the remaining nonresident cases, two were in unknown locations, one involved a Ketchikan tourism worker and there was one case each in Valdez and Juneau.

The 114 new cases reflect the positive results recorded out of 8,049 test results returned Thursday. So far, 233,106 COVID-19 tests have been performed in Alaska since the pandemic began, according to state data.

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