The Mat-Su Borough continues to have the highest rate of virus transmission

The Mat-Su Borough continues to have the highest rate of transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 in the state.  According to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services on Monday, the average daily case rate in the Mat-Su is 36.61 per 100,000 people over the last 14 days.  Most of the state is still in a high alert status with widespread community transmission.

The state reported 349 residents were identified with Covid-19 in Alaska over the last three days.  Ninety-one of those cases were in the Mat-Su, with four identified as being from a community with fewer than 1000 residents. The total number of cases in the Mat-Su is 9,461 cases.  Almost 59,000 Alaskans have contracted the disease.

The Mat-Su School District is reporting 69 active cases in area schools, but none in the northern Susitna Valley.  All local schools are in the Low Risk operational zone level, which assumes no to minimal community transmission.

The seven-day rolling average of tests with positive results has been creeping up in the Mat-Su Borough since the end of January.  As of Sunday, positive results were at 7.27% in the borough, which is three times that across the state.

The positivity rate can indicate if a community is conducting enough testing to find cases. If a community’s positivity is high, it suggests that that community may be testing the sickest patients and possibly missing milder or asymptomatic cases. The World Health Organization has said countries with broad testing should have a positivity rate that stays below 5%.