By Sentinel Staff
Sitka added five new positive COVID tests Friday and 12 on Saturday, the state dashboard shows.
The 32 cases over seven days September 12-18 brings Sitka’s case rate under the state and national standards to 375.45. The case rate has been on the rise for the last five days, after a fairly steady two-month decline.
All but one of the positive tests from the last week were for residents.
The case rate is the number of resident and nonresident cases over a week, per 100,000 population. Communities are on “high” when the case rate is 100 or more.
The state added another death over the weekend for Sitka, bringing the total number to four. Deaths are updated monthly, with no specific dates.
The vaccination clinics held by SEARHC and Harry Race Pharmacy last week brought the number of partially vaccinated residents to 6,145 (83.21 percent) and the number of fully vaccinated to 6,041 (81.8 percent). The percentages are based on the age 12 and up population of 7,385.
DHSS said 91.41 percent of the senior population in Sitka is vaccinated, but the state said today it’s investigating a possible overestimation of fully vaccinated among the age 65 and up population throughout the state.
