New COVID-19 cases in triple digits again in the Mat-Su as state breaks daily record

Alaska set a daily record for new cases of COVID-19, with nearly 1,100 reported on Wednesday.  That came the day after Providence Alaska Medical Center announced that it would begin rationing care in light of the increase in hospitalizations due to COVID.

Mat-Su Regional Hospital has not made any announcement to that effect, but it’s intensive care unit remains full past capacity.  On a statewide public call on Wednesday, State Medical Director Dr. Anne Zink said that there are currently twenty intensive care patients in the Valley.  The state’s website shows the normal maximum capacity at Mat-Su Regional as 14 ICU patients.

While Providence is the only hospital to announce that it is rationing care, Dr. Zink says the entire state healthcare system is near critical capacity.  Statewide, about three-quarters of adult hospital beds are occupied, and there are about twenty ICU beds available in all of Alaska.

For eight of the last fourteen days, the Mat-Su has seen 100 or more new daily cases of COVID-19, including 116 on Wednesday.  

As of the beginning of class on Wednesday, more than half of the schools in the Valley were in the “medium risk” category with some level of masking required on those campuses.  Northern Susitna Valley schools in medium risk included Talkeetna and Willow Elementary Schools.  No schools were closed in the Mat-Su as of Wednesday morning.