Nurse Jane Hopkins, who most recently worked at Harborview Medical Center and Snoqualmie Hospital, will help guide the nation's coronavirus response.
A Seattle nurse got a huge appointment last week she was added to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harriss COVID-19 Advisory Board.
Her name is Jane Hopkins, and while she now has the ear of the president-elect, she almost missed the invitation. Bidens coronavirus advisory panel originally had 12 people on it top scientists, researchers and medical professionals but no nurses, which is the largest group of health care professionals in the country, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Hopkins was chosen last week and met with the board for the first time on Tuesday. She said that shes looking forward to one day meeting with Biden and Harris personally.
She sat down with KING 5s Steve Bunin to talk about her role on the board and how her experience impacts her expertise.
Steve Bunin: What do you see your role as on this advisory board?
Jane Hopkins: I see my role as bringing the voices of the workers, essential workers, that when we usually think about essential workers, we think about doctors and nurses. I believe that we need to be talking about, especially when we think about health care, the housekeepers cleaning the rooms, the dietary workers giving food to people, the x-ray workers, the techs, because, you know, they have to work as a team for us to give the best care possible to our patients and to make sure that this disease is manageable in the hospital.
Also, I am bringing the experience of being a Black woman, experience of being an immigrant worker to this committee. So I really feel that it's an essential part. Hearing these voices is so important for us to come up with a comprehensive plan.
Bunin: How does your background being born in Sierra Leone and training in the UK influence your expertise here?
Hopkins: I think the biggest way is in behavioral health, mental health. I'm really interested in making sure that we don't leave the marginalized behind the people who are sick where you don't see the sickness. I think (my background) has made it easier for me to be able to be compassionate with people. And being an immigrant, I've been treated all kinds of different ways, and I know what it's like to come into a country and try to make a life for yourself. And all those experiences have made me who I am today.
I loved working at the top trauma center in Seattle. That experience showed me that it doesn't matter who you are, that you deserve to have health care, and you deserve to be treated with respect. We can defeat this virus if we all do it together, and we all care about each other. That's gonna get us where we need to be.
Bunin: What will define this advisory board as a success?
Hopkins:To get rid of the virus. That would be definite success, and also making sure that we do it in an equitable way, that we're not leaving anybody behind. We have to think about everybody. This virus doesn't care whether you're Republican and Democrat or a health care worker. What really needs to happen is, we all need to work together, we all need to mask up. We all need to make sure that we are social distancing. We need to follow the science. That is so essential. I think success would be making sure that people are vaccinated and that people arent waking up every day thinking about it, thinking, "I might die from getting it."
Bunin: How did you even find out? Did you get an email from Kamala Harris? How did it work?
Hopkins: I actually got a call. But the funny thing is, I saw a Florida number, and I'm like, "I don't know that number. I'm not gonna answer that call." So, I didn't answer the call. And then, you know, they left a message. So, I'm like, "Oh, my goodness. This that was an important call." And I probably should have answered it. So, I called them back, and they told me.
I was so excited. It is such an honor. It is incredible, knowing my journey, you know, from where I was born to being here today, that in America, anybody can make it. You just have to work hard. And there are still things that we need to work on.
And I think having more people of color on this advisory committee is bringing a different perspective to how we need to treat this virus. So, I'm very excited to be there to bring the voices of workers every day, because I hear it every day. People are tired, you know? They work so hard. We're short staffed, running out of PPE. It's all those things. And to be able to bring that perspective to this team at this level is incredible.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) Sticking with the recommendations from the CDC, Gov. Larry Hogan said when a COVID-19 vaccine is approved, certain essential healthcare workers will be the first to get it.
Gov. Hogan spoke about it Thursday on Good Morning America.
Weve got about 300,000 of those, so our plan which we submitted to the CDC prioritizes the most vulnerable, the governor said. So our frontline healthcare workers, our nursing homes, then first responders. As they come in, we just start working our way down that pyramid of a list.
Plans to distribute a vaccine comes as the virus continues to spread in the state. Forty-eight people died in Maryland in the last 24 hours, the most in months.
CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE:
In Thursdays data, hospitalizations dropped slightly, but the number of people in the ICU was at the highest level since June. The states positivity rate is well over 7 percent.
The initial delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine could come in mid-December after FDA approval, but Gov. Hogan said that will not be enough for the 300,000 frontline healthcare workers in the state.
Gov. Hogan, along with many healthcare officials, is reminding people to stay vigilant because the vaccine may not be widely available for months.
Sadly, the darkest days are yet ahead, and hearing the statistics you were just talking about earlier, the worst part of this virus is still coming in the weeks and maybe the month or two to come, Gov. Hogan said.
Once the vaccine is widely available, health officials said theyre desperate to reassure the general public that itis safe.
For the latest information on coronavirus go to theMaryland Health Departments websiteor call 211. You can find all of WJZs coverage oncoronavirus in Maryland here.
South Dakotas intensive care units are busier with COVID-19 patients than ever before.
Thursdays update from the Department of Health said 109 coronavirus patients were being treated in South Dakota ICUs. Thats up from 91 ICU patients with coronavirus on Sunday. Its also the highest number of ICU patients with the virus since the health department started including those numbers in its daily updates.
Many of those ICU patients are staying in the states three largest hospitals.
Thursdays update said every staffed adult ICU bed was full at both Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls and Monument Health in Rapid City. Sanfords ICU had 28 patients with COVID-19. The Rapid City hospitals ICU had 15 patients with the virus.
Avera McKennan Hospitals staffed ICU beds were 96.6% full. Doctors were treating 35 patients with COVID-19 in Averas Sioux Falls ICU.
This isnt the first surge in COVID-19 ICU patients in South Dakota hospitals. On November 20th, 107 coronavirus patients were in intensive care.
Total hospitalizations rose slightly on Thursday, but they are not as high as they were in mid-November.
The numbers include every patient being treated in South Dakota hospitals, including people from other states. They do not include South Dakotans who are hospitalized in other states.
The South Dakota Department of Health confirmed 38 more South Dakotans have died due to COVID-19.
That brings the total number of deaths in South Dakota since the pandemic started to more than 1,000. Of those, more than 800 victims were over the age of 70.
An experimental antibody treatment that received emergency approval from the FDA last month for use in high-risk COVID-19 patients, may be the key to stopping the high number of deaths in nursing homes due to the coronavirus.
In this edition of COVID-19 Beyond the Numbers, we have the story of one nursing home giving the therapy to coronavirus positive residents, which just became available to the health systems in our state a little more than a week ago.
Last month we brought you the story of a local judge who took part in Avera Healths Regeneron study. At the time, the experimental antibody cocktail didnt have FDA approval yet. However, in emergency actions last month, both Regeneron and Bamlanivimab, or B-Mab for short, which is made by a different company, both became available to treat high-risk patients.
The Avera St. Benedict Health Center in Parkston, which includes a nursing home, recently received its first shipment of the new B-Mab antibody drug, which is a one-time IV infusion. Four residents who had just been diagnosed with COVID-19 qualified for the treatment.
Previously our high-risk patients, we had to kind of cross our fingers and just hope for the best. We didnt really have any treatments we could offer, whereas now we have something we can actively give to hopefully reduce the risk for our patients and reduce the chance of developing that severe COVID, which everyone is really concerned about, Dr. Paul Berndt said.
The antibody cocktail is only for patients with high-risk factors, such as age and preexisting conditions. Currently, its only approved for patients early on in their diagnosis.
So far theres been a lot of optimism from patients and families for this treatment. Everyone wants to do everything they can to prevent getting ill from COVID, Dr. Berndt said.
B-Mab is being used in many health settings, not just at nursing homes. Dr. Chad Thury is an Avera family practice physician who is now offering it to his high-risk patients who test positive for COVID-19.
The long term thing, what we expect to see is that were going to start to see decreased hospitalization numbers, decreased ER visits, patients who wont need to be placed on oxygen at home, through our home care transitions programs. Thats kind of expectations and what I talk with patients about, as far as why I would recommend them getting the product.
With outbreaks at many nursing homes across the state, this one in Parkston is grateful to now have something to offer its residents that looks promising.
Kenencke: Do you see this as a way to save lives in nursing homes? Are you optimistic about that?Dr. Berndt: Were optimistic that this is something we can actively do to protect our patients and try to reduce the risk and keep them as healthy as possible.
Dr. Berndt says its still too soon to tell how well the antibody treatment is working for residents, but results should be clear within the next few weeks.
There is always a slight risk of side effects with any infusion, but so far, Avera St. Benedicts in Parkston says its residents havent had any issue tolerating the treatment.
Bamlanivimab Fact Sheet
Oregons new COVID-19 rules start Thursday. Heres what to know - OPB
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The temporary freeze Gov. Kate Brown implemented two weeks ago to curb the spread of COVID-19 is over as of Thursday. But new restrictions are coming as state leaders and public health officials wait to see if Thanksgiving gatherings added to the growing number of cases and prepare for the possibility of even greater risks over the Christmas and New Years holidays.
The new system is a bit more complicated than the freeze; its a four-tiered system based on how each of Oregons 36 counties is doing when it comes to tracking and testing for the virus.
The bulk of Oregon 25 counties, including the Portland region and much of the Willamette Valley, the Rogue Valley and Central Oregon are now classified as extreme high risk.
Related: Sector Risk Level Guidance Chart
For at least the next two weeks, the rules in those communities will look and feel similar to what has been in place since the governors freeze took effect.
Indoor dining is not allowed, and social gatherings are restricted to six people and no more than two households. Stores are limited to 50 percent capacity thats less than what was allowed over the past two weeks.
Gyms, movie theaters, bowling alleys and other indoor recreational spaces will remain closed. Indoor K-12 and college sports are prohibited. Some outdoor recreation, including outdoor gym classes, is allowed as long as they involve 50 or fewer people and social distancing rules are met.
Churches, synagogues and other faith organizations are limited to a maximum of 25% capacity or 100 people indoors, whichever is smaller, or 150 people for outdoor services.
Salons, chiropractors and other personal service industries are allowed to stay open with proper safety protocols in place. Nursing homes and assisted living centers can allow visitors.
Offices and other workplaces must make employees work remotely if possible.
Outdoor visits are allowed at nursing homes.
The guidelines are looser in places with less dangerous conditions. Some indoor dining is allowed in these 11 counties, as are some indoor sports. Stores and religious institutions are still limited in how many people they can allow in at once. Indoor visits are allowed at nrusing homes and assisted living facilities in lower-risk communities.
Only four counties Gilliam, Sherman, Wallowa and Wheeler are currently considered low risk. Even in those places, life is not back to pre-pandemic normal: The new restrictions limit social gatherings to 10 people or fewer in low risk counties, cap restaurant seating at 50% capacity and limit stores to 75% capacity.
State leaders and public health officials remain very worried about the next few weeks. Its too soon to tell if Thanksgiving gatherings will lead to a feared spike in cases. State regulators will reconsider the current limits and risk levels in two weeks, so the new limits are in place until at least Dec. 17.
The numbers continue to rise: The Oregon Health Authority reported 9,100 new daily cases over Thanksgiving week, the highest weekly total since the pandemic began.
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Oregon is now expected to be able to vaccinate more than 100,000 health care workers in December. That's three times what was expected just a month ago.
About 70,000 Oregonians are expected to lose unemployment benefits this month. Meanwhile, COVID-19 has hit the agency's largest claims center.
Find all of the most important pandemic education news on Educating N.J., a special resource guide created for parents, students and educators.
For the second week in a row, every region in New Jersey is orange on the states COVID-19 map, indicating high virus activity across the state.
The color coding on the map is being closely watched by many school districts because if any area moves to red, indicating very high coronavirus activity, all schools in that region will be required to close classrooms and switch to all-remote learning, according to state health guidelines.
Schools in orange regions currently the whole state should consider implementing fully remote learning in their schools, but are not required to make the switch, the guidelines say. The districts that remain open in orange regions also face stricter rules on when schools should close temporarily if students or teachers appear to have coronavirus symptoms.
Gov. Phil Murphy has begun issuing new restrictions based on the rising virus rates in the state, including new orders limiting outdoor gatherings and pausing indoor sports. However, he has said he has no plans to shut down schools statewide. That decision is currently being left up to local school officials.
We continue to work closely with individual districts to ensure that the decisions made are those that work for them and their educational and broader communities, Murphy said at his press briefing in Trenton Wednesday.
However, state health guidelines say a move to all-virtual learning would be mandatory in any region that moves to red on the map.
The state Department of Health releases the COVID-19 Activity Level Report map every Thursday, using data about each regions weekly coronavirus case rate, percent of people who tested positive and the number of people reported with fever, cough and other symptoms that may be COVID-19.
The map breaks New Jersey into six regions and assigns them each a color: green (low), yellow (moderate), orange (high) or red (very high). The color is based on the on the COVID-19 Activity Level Index, or CALI, a score health officials give each region weekly. The score is calculated by a formula that uses health data for each region.
The regions are:
-Northwest: Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Warren
-Northeast: Bergen, Essex, Hudson
-Central West: Hunterdon, Mercer, Somerset
-Central East: Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Union
-Southwest: Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem
-Southeast: Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland
For most of the school year, the map had been largely green (indicating low coronavirus activity) and yellow (moderate activity). Two weeks ago, every region on the map turned orange except for the Southeast region of Cape May, Atlantic and Cumberland counties, which remained in the moderate yellow level.
Last week, the Southeast turned orange too, leaving the entire state in the high range for the virus.
The data for this weeks map came from the week ending Nov. 28. A closer look at the numbers shows the Southeast region of Cape May, Atlantic and Cumberland counties continues to have lowest COVID-19 activity in the state.
The Northwest region (Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Warren counties) and the Southwest region (Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem counties) have the highest overall activity levels.
Those regions could switch to red, indicating very high activity, if the percent of positive COVID-19 cases goes above 20%. The percent positivity is currently just under 12% in both the Northwest and the Southwest regions, according to the latest data.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage
New Jersey's health department releases a COVID-19 Activity Level Index, called the CALI, for each region of the state each week. For week 48, all regions scored a 3 on the index, indicating "high" virus activity.
As the number of coronavirus cases climbs, the number of districts switching to all-remote learning has been increasing each week. Many districts saw they will have their students learn from home until January or February, then reassess whether it would be safe to reopen classrooms.
But Murphy said the number of schools bringing students to class every day remains high.
The majority of our schools continue to remain open to in-person instruction in one form or another, Murphy said Wednesday.
As of this week, 438 New Jersey school districts were operating under a hybrid model blending in-person and remote learning, state officials said. Another 246 districts are all-remote or moving to all-remote learning, 89 were offering all in-person classes and 38 were offering a blend of different models in various schools or grades.
Those numbers do not count most private schools, including Catholic schools.
New Jersey has different guidelines for schools based on whether the county is in a green, yellow, orange or red region on the state's COVID-19 COVID-19 Weekly Activity Report map.
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Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com.
Private U.S. companies have the right under the law to require employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but are unlikely to do so because of the risks of legal and cultural backlash, experts said.
Companies are still in the early stages of navigating access and distribution of vaccines against the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, but inoculation is considered the key to safely resume operations at crowded warehouses, factory lines and on sales floors.
Companies have every good reason to get all of their employees vaccinated and also have an obligation to keep all employees and customers safe, said Lawrence Gostin, a global health law professor at Georgetown University.
Gostin and five other health law experts said private companies in the United States have broad liberties to set health and safety standards, which would allow them to mandate vaccinations as a condition of employment with some exceptions.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in May said employers were allowed to compel employees to get a coronavirus test before allowing them to return to work, a decision that some experts said might be extended to vaccine mandates.
OSHA in the past has said employers have the right to mandate vaccines.
But Robert Field, a law and public health professor at Drexel University, said companies considering mandates should wait for vaccines to undergo a full-fledged regulatory review process.
Employers are on shakier grounds because of the emergency use authorization, Field said, adding there was no precedent for vaccine mandates during that phase.
U.S. courts that have ruled on lawsuits by healthcare workers opposing employer-mandated flu vaccines have largely sided with hospitals as long as they provided reasonable exemption policies, court records showed.
Regulatory Patchwork
In Europe, companies face a patchwork of national vaccine regulation, with some countries mandating childhood vaccines, but European employers overall are unlikely to be able to mandate vaccination for staff, experts said.
In France, which in 2018 began mandating some childhood vaccines, some vaccinations are obligatory for professionals in the social and healthcare industry. President Emmanuel Macron has said a coronavirus vaccine will not be mandatory.
In Germany currently, only measles vaccines are mandatory for some employees and companies have no sufficient legal basis to order COVID-19 vaccination, said Pauline Moritz, a Frankfurt-based employment law attorney.
And in the UK, the government has no legal power to compel vaccination and employers attempting to mandate vaccines would likely confront human rights concerns, employment lawyers at Morgan Lewis wrote in a blog post.
U.S. agencies to date have not weighed in on COVID-19 vaccine mandates, but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in the past has said employers have the right to mandate vaccines.
OSHA referred a request for comment to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which did not respond.
Mandates Unlikely
U.S. companies so far are shying away from discussing vaccine mandates, ahead of formal approval for a vaccine by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Ford Motor Co., which has ordered a dozen ultra-cold freezers to distribute vaccines to employees, said they would be made available on a voluntary basis.
A spokeswoman for Kellogg Co. said the company was working with a medical expert and industry trade associations to make vaccines available to employees on a voluntary basis, in compliance with local and regional regulations.
Some experts said any vaccine mandates would prompt litigation.
Companies could theoretically issue a mandate, but in the current political climate it is very unlikely they will do so, said Peter Meyers, a law professor at George Washington University Law School. Americans tend to shy away from mandates.
Surveys have shown many Americans have safety concerns about a COVID vaccine, with nearly half of the 10,000 respondents polled in a September Pew research survey saying they would definitely or probably not get the vaccine.
Some experts said any vaccine mandates would prompt litigation. Cases alleging infringement on religious freedom could make it to a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court.
Vaccine mandates are common in the U.S. healthcare industry, where many hospitals require staff to take annual flu shots and all U.S. states mandate vaccines for school children.
Employees and parents can object to vaccines largely on two grounds: medical conditions that contraindicate vaccination or depending on the U.S. state religious or personal believes.
Some union contracts with individual employers, particularly in the healthcare industry, also prevent mandatory vaccines.
If an employee rejects vaccination on religious grounds, an employer has to make a reasonable effort to accommodate the worker, such as offering a transfer to a different department with fewer personal interactions or mandating masks, said Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, a law professor at UC Hastings.
So far two companies, Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc., have asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization of their vaccine candidates.
The chief adviser of the U.S. governments COVID-19 vaccine program said on Tuesday that 20 million people could be vaccinated by the end of 2020, and that by the middle of 2021 most Americans will have access to highly effective vaccines.
(Reporting by Tina Bellon in New York Additional reporting by Richa Naidu in Chicago Editing by Joe White and Nick Zieminski)
MUSKEGON, MI More than 20 people died of COVID-19 in Muskegon County over the past week, though the growth in new cases has started trending downward, state and local data show.
Deaths due to COVID-19 increased from 159 on Nov. 24 to 181 on Dec. 3, most of which occurred among people in their 70s, according to Public Health-Muskegon County. The state put the total number of deaths at 185 as of Dec. 2.
The good news is that new cases seem to be dropping as is the number of people admitted to Mercy Health for treatment.
The number of new cases dropped by 27.4% between the periods of Nov. 12-25 and Nov. 26-Dec. 2, according to state figures. However, that reduction may be impacted by testing site shutdowns and a drop in testing demand due to the Thanksgiving holiday, Kathy Moore, director of the health department, told MLive.
Our epidemiologist told us there were fewer tests, so we would get fewer positives, Moore said.
Muskegon Countys total cases stood at 7,570 as of Thursday, Dec. 3, up 944 cases since Wednesday, Nov. 25, according to county statistics.
Related: Michigan reports 7,146 new coronavirus cases, 175 new deaths
The number of COVID-19 patients at Mercy Healths Mercy and Hackley campuses also is dropping.
Were seeing a very significant reduction in our COVID numbers from a hospitalization perspective, which is really, really good news, Mercy Health Muskegon President Gary Allore said in a recorded Community Covid-19 Update on Wednesday, Dec. 2.
There were with 100 COVID-19 patients at Mercy Healths Sherman Campus the morning of Thursday, Dec. 3, Moore said. Of those, 24 were in intensive care and 15 were on ventilators, she said.
Allore, citing a census of 92 on Dec. 2, said that 10 days earlier, the number of hospitalized patients was in the low 140s.
So far were seeing really great results, Allore said, later adding, Weve got a long way to go.
The ages of the 22 people who died of COVID-19 since Nov. 24 included one person in their 40s, two in their 50s, four in their 60s, 12 in their 70s and three in their 80s, according to county health department statistics.
Two more inmates from the Muskegon Correctional Facility died of COVID-19, bringing the prisons total to nine deaths, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections. The latest deaths were reported on Nov. 25 and Nov. 28.
Following a dreadful November in Muskegon County, when 93 COVID-19 deaths were reported, Moore is cautiously optimistic about what the latest numbers could signal.
The countys test positivity rate averaged 18.8% between Nov. 25-Dec. 1, which is down slightly from the 22.1% positivity rate that was the highest in the state, recorded between Nov. 17-23.
Moore said she needs a few more days of data to determine whether the latest state order shutting down restaurants, bars and high schools is the reason for the downward trend.
Related: Michigan health director talks limits to his authority in COVID-19 oversight hearing
About half of the countys recent severe cases can be attributed to people who were out and about and likely exposed at a social event, Moore said. The other half were really responsible residents, who tended to be older, stayed home and frequently washed their hands, she said.
We just dont know how they were exposed, Moore said.
Ottawa County reported a total of 14,386 cases on Dec. 2, up 1,919 from a week earlier. Deaths grew by 30, to a total of 159.
Oceana County had 1,203 cases as of Dec. 2, up 139 from a week earlier, according to the District Health Department No. 10. Deaths there grew by six, to a total of 22.
More on MLive:
Michigan effort to eliminate COVID-19 racial disparities working, state leaders say
Michigan hearings gave Trump campaign a venue to spread election misinformation
Developer has ambitious plans for former industrial property on Muskegon Lake
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The deaths included four Anchorage men in their 70s, an Anchorage man in his 80s, a man from a smaller community in the Kusilvak Census Area in his 30s, a Bethel woman in her 50s and a Bethel woman in her 80s. All the deaths occurred recently, the state health department said.
In total, 129 Alaskans with COVID-19 have died since the virus was first detected here in March. While Alaskas overall death rate per capita remains one of the lowest in the country, state officials have said it is difficult to compare Alaska to other states because of its unique geography and vulnerable health care system.
Officials continue to report that shrinking hospital capacity and limited staffing pose a significant concern statewide.
By Thursday, ICU capacity in Alaska was in the red zone, or more than 75% full. There were 144 people hospitalized with COVID-19, along with another 13 people with suspected infections. Just 24 adult intensive care unit beds were available out of 127, and 13.6% of total hospitalizations in Alaska were COVID-related.
Forty-seven people were newly admitted to hospitals with COVID last week, nearly double the number of new hospitalizations that were reported the week before, according to a weekly update sent out by the state.
Of the 755 new cases reported by the state Thursday among Alaska residents, there were 272 in Anchorage, plus 34 in Eagle River, 15 in Chugiak and one in Girdwood; 160 in Wasilla, 33 in Palmer, two in Big Lake and one in Willow; 57 in Kodiak; 27 in Soldotna, 11 in Kenai, seven in Homer, seven in Sterling, four in Seward, two in Nikiski, one in Anchor Point; 17 in Fairbanks and 12 in North Pole; 16 in Bethel; 11 in Utqiagvik; seven in Delta Junction; seven in Sitka; six in Ketchikan; five in Nome; four in Juneau; two in Valdez; two in Kotzebue; two in Craig; one in Petersburg; one in Chevak; and one in an unidentified part of the state.
Among communities smaller than 1,000 people not named to protect privacy, there were seven resident cases in the northern Kenai Peninsula Borough; four in the Bethel Census Area; two in the Kodiak Island Borough; two in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area; two in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough; two in the Aleutians East Borough; two in the Kusilvak Census Area; one in the southern Kenai Peninsula Borough; one in the Denali Borough; one in the Fairbanks North Star Borough; one in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area; one in the Nome Census Area; and one in the Northwest Arctic Borough.
Five cases were reported among nonresidents: one in Soldotna, one in Prudhoe Bay, one in a smaller North Slope Borough community and two in unidentified regions of the state.
Alaskas continued surge is part of a national trend. The U.S. on Wednesday reported its highest single-day death toll: more than 3,100 deaths in one day, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Officials in Alaska and nationwide have expressed worry that gatherings and travel over the Thanksgiving holiday a week ago could lead to continued high counts, hospitalizations and deaths. Those counts are likely to begin showing up in the data soon, they say.
While all regions in Alaska as of Thursday were in a high alert status, the largest increases in case rates over the last week were in the Mat-Su and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, which rose by 64% and 29% respectively, according to the state.
An outbreak in Kodiak also continued to grow this week, with the most cases reported on the island in a single day on Thursday. The first virus-related death there has occurred this week, according to the citys emergency operations center.
Anchorage this week entered a modified, monthlong hunker down in order to curb high rates of virus spread and protect health care capacity. According to a modeling tool developed by Georgia Tech University, theres now a 50% chance that at least one person at a 15-person gathering in Anchorage will be infected with COVID-19.
Health officials continue to encourage Alaskans to avoid indoor gatherings with non-household members, and report that most Alaskans who contract the virus get it from a friend, family member or coworker.
Travel is also currently considered a high-risk activity: This week, around 1 in 16 passengers tested after arriving at Alaska airports from out of state had positive results.
More than 1 million tests have been performed in Alaska since March. While people might get tested more than once, each case reported by the state health department represents only one person.
Among the new cases, the state does not report how many people show symptoms when they test positive. The CDC estimates that about a third of people who have the virus are asymptomatic.
On Thursday, the state had an average positivity rate of 6.66% over the last seven days. Health officials warn that a positivity rate over 5% can mean there is not enough broad testing occurring in a community.
The CDC announced yesterday it was revising its quarantine guidance to allow people who may have been exposed to COVID-19 to shorten their quarantine period from two weeks to as few as seven days with a negative COVID-19 test.
The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services said in a statement that it has reviewed the updated CDC guidance and supports the new options for shortening a post-exposure quarantine.
The Northland logged eight more deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday and five of those people were from St. Louis County.
One of them was a resident of a long-term care or assisted living facility while the other four lived in private residences, according to the county's COVID-19 dashboard. They ranged between ages 60 and 100-plus.
Lake and Carlton counties each logged one new death their seventh and 17th, respectively. The Lake County resident was in their early 90s and the Carlton County resident was in their early 80s, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
Douglas County logged its sixth death from COVID-19. It was one of a few deaths in the county that occurred in November that the Wisconsin Department of Health Services only recently started reporting. Kathy Ronchi, the public health officer for Douglas County, previously told the News Tribune that's due to a lag in the death certification process.
Minnesota reported a total of 77 deaths and 5,122 new cases Wednesday. Wisconsin reported 82 deaths and 3,777 new cases.
For the seventh day in a row, none of the 10 counties in the Northland logged a record-breaking number of new cases Wednesday.
St. Louis County reported that 199 more people have tested positive for the virus. That puts the county's seven-day average of new cases at 236 new cases a day.
News cases and seven-day averages in other counties:
