Updated at 7:30 p.m.
Another Alaskan has died from COVID-19 after more than a month of no fatalities linked to the disease.
The person was a patient at the Providence Transitional Care Center in East Anchorage — the site of the state’s largest coronavirus outbreak.
The patient tested positive for the virus and then was hospitalized, said Mikal Canfield, a spokesman for Providence Health & Services Alaska, which operates the transitional center. The patient died at the Providence Alaska Medical Center.
“This resident was a cherished member of the PTCC family, and we are deeply saddened,” Canfield said in a statement. “We extend our sympathies to their family and loved ones in their time of loss.”
Canfield didn’t provide the patient’s age or information on any underlying medical conditions, citing patient privacy.
The patient is the 11th Alaskan to die with the virus. The death comes as Alaska recorded another double-digit, daily increase in coronavirus cases in the state. By the end of the day Monday, 11 more Alaskans had tested positive for the disease. So had two more seafood workers from out of state.
Six of the Alaskans are from the Municipality of Anchorage, two are from the Kenai Peninsula Borough, one is from the Nome census area, one is from the Northwest Arctic Borough and one is from Haines, which the borough reported on Monday. It’s the first case in the Southeast Alaska community.
Also, the health department said Tuesday that it reclassified a previously reported case after further investigation. A case described as an Alaskan on the Kenai Peninsula Borough was actually a nonresident.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many of the new cases are linked to the ongoing outbreak at Providence’s East Anchorage campus.
Health officials confirmed the first case on the campus on May 29. A patient at the transitional care center had developed a cough and fever, and then tested positive for the infectious disease.
By Tuesday, 17 patients and 26 caregivers had tested positive for the disease at the transitional center. Patients typically spend weeks at the transitional center as they recover from injury, surgery or illness before heading home or to assisted living.
Also, a caregiver at Providence Extended Care has tested positive for the disease and is quarantining at home, Canfield said. The extended care facility serves mostly older people and shares a campus with the transitional center.
Providence is on its second round of testing all residents, patients and employees on the campus, Canfield said. It was still waiting for some results on Tuesday, and planned for a third round of testing at the end of the week.
The number of new coronavirus cases in Alaska each day has reached the double-digits several times over the past two weeks, after more than a month of small, daily increases. The state started to lift coronavirus-related limitations on businesses in late April and removed them completely in late May.
By the end of the day Monday, the state had recorded 573 coronavirus cases among Alaskans: 389 of them are considered recovered, 173 of them are active cases and there are 11 deaths. A few of the deaths are Alaskans who died out of state.
The last death was a man from Anchor Point who was older than 80 and had pre-existing conditions.
State health officials say a death is included in its coronavirus data if the person was confirmed to have COVID-19 through a lab result and then died during the course of having the disease or through complications related to the disease. It is also included if the medical examiner conducts a death investigation which results in a positive COVID-19 lab test. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The health department on Tuesday also reported another person has been hospitalized with the disease in Alaska, bringing that total to 49 since the state started tracking the coronavirus in March. As of Monday, 12 people were currently in the hospital who either tested positive for the virus or were awaiting results.
The total number of tests administered in the state has reached 66,890, up nearly 1,000 from a day earlier. The total number of nonresidents who have tested positive for the disease is now 49.
Also Tuesday, the state transportation department announced another six Alaska Marine Highway employees from the Tustumena ferry have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases to seven. The seven crewmembers will remain in isolation on the Tustumena. Health-care workers are monitoring them, the department says.
Those six cases will be included in the state’s case count on Wednesday. The state’s daily, data update is based on the prior day’s numbers.
Original story
Alaska’s health department on Tuesday reported an 11th person has died with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. There are 14 new cases of the disease.
The person who died was an Anchorage resident, according to Audrey Gray, a spokeswoman for the municipality’s emergency operations center.
Additional details about the death were not immediately available from the city or the state. It’s the first death reported in more than a month.
Of the 14 new cases, three are nonresident seafood workers and the rest are among Alaskans from across the state, according to the department’s data update of cases through the end of the day Monday.
Six of the Alaskans are from the Municipality of Anchorage, two are from the Kenai Peninsula Borough, one is from the Nome census area, one is from the Northwest Arctic Borough and one is from Haines, which the borough reported on Monday. It’s the first case in the Southeast Alaska community.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many of the new cases are linked to an ongoing outbreak at a health-care campus in East Anchorage, where 42 caregivers and patients have tested positive for the disease — 41 of them from the Providence Transitional Care Center and one caregiver from Providence Extended Care.
The number of coronavirus cases in Alaska each day has reached the double-digits several times over the past two weeks, after more than a month of small, daily increases. The state started to lift coronavirus-related limitations on businesses in late April and removed them completely in late May.
By the end of the day Monday, the state had recorded 573 coronavirus cases among Alaskans: 389 of them are considered recovered, 173 of them are active cases and there are 11 deaths. A few of the deaths are Alaskans who died out of state.
The last death was a man from Anchor Point who was older than 80 and had pre-existing conditions.
State health officials say a death is included in its coronavirus data if the person was confirmed to have COVID-19 through a lab result and then died during the course of having the disease or through complications related to the disease. It is also included if the medical examiner conducts a death investigation which results in a positive COVID-19 lab test. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The health department on Tuesday also reported another person has been hospitalized with the disease in Alaska, bringing that total to 49 since the state started tracking the coronavirus in March. As of Monday, 12 people were currently in the hospital who either tested positive for the virus or were awaiting results.
The total number of tests administered in the state has reached 66,890, up nearly 1,000 from a day earlier. Also, the total number of nonresidents who have tested positive for the disease is now 49.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the number of new cases in Alaska reported by the state on Tuesday. There were 13 new cases, not 14. A case the state previously reported and described as an Alaskan on the Kenai Peninsula was re-categorized as a nonresident after further investigation, the health department says. It is a not a new case.
