More than 800 new cases of Covid-19 in the Mat-Su in past week

On Friday the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services reported another 78 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Mat-Su Borough. This brings the total number of new Mat-Su cases for the past week to over 800.

The state’s Coronavirus Response Data Hub shows a total of 5,255 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Mat-Su since the pandemic arrived in Alaska last March. In the third week of October, the Mat-Su Borough had an average of fewer than 26 positive cases per day. That number doubled in two weeks. The rolling 14-day average peaked at 162 cases per day on Wednesday as a backlog of positive cases was entered into the state’s database.

DHSS said that a model developed at Georgia Tech estimates that a gathering involving 10 people in the Mat-Su Borough last week would have more than a 1 in 2 chance of at least one person having COVID-19.

Most new infections among Alaskans are from community spread, meaning that residents get the virus from someone they work, socialize, or go to school with. The state recommends that Alaskans avoid indoor gatherings with non-household members, wear masks when around non-household members, and stay six feet from anyone not in their household.

Travel remains a high risk activity. Over the last two weeks, around 1 in 16 passengers tested after arriving at Alaska airports from out of state were positive for the virus causing COVID-19.