Alaska’s COVID-19 transmission rate leads nation, as 94 people test positive and another dies

Graphic by David Purdy/KTOO

A Fairbanks woman in her 80s died of COVID-19 on Tuesday. Since March, 19 Alaskans have died from the virus.  

And data shows that COVID-19 is spreading fast enough that by some measures, Alaska has the highest transmission rate in the nation. 

State health officials reported 94 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. That includes 92 residents and 2 non-residents. 

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The majority of the new cases, 42, are residents of Municipality of Anchorage. But there are also 11 from the Valdez-Cordova Census Area, 10 from the Fairbanks North Star Borough, eight from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, seven from Juneau, three from the Kenai Peninsula Borough, three from the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, three from Ketchikan, two from Sitka, one from the North Slope Borough and two who have no home community listed. 

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Of the two new non-resident cases, one is in Eagle River and the state has not yet identified where the other is from. 

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 or under investigation of having the disease also increased to 34, a new high for the state.

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