By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
A spate of five positive COVID-19 test results Tuesday sent Sitka’s case rate back up.
The city dashboard’s seven-day total is 14, for a case rate of 164.26. That’s up from the 105.60 that was listed on Tuesday. A case rate of 100 or higher – 9 cases or more in a week – puts Sitka in the “high” alert level.
The case rate is the number of cases for the past week, by reported date, adjusted for 100,000 population.
(The state COVID cases dashboard has one additional case on October 15 and two on October 17, for a total of 17 cases - 14 residents, 3 nonresidents - in a week.)
The case rate for Tuesday is the highest in the last week, but generally in the lower range of case rates from the past three months, peaking July 22 with 200 cases in a week and a case rate of 2,346.59.
The number of partially vaccinated Sitkans was listed by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services as 6,226, or 84.31 percent; the fully vaccinated figure is 5,983, or 81.02 percent. The percentages are based on Sitka’s age 12 and up population of 7,385.
Most of the state is in the “high” alert or risk range, with some lower levels of positive cases in Southeast and part of the Aleutians (False Pass). Haines joined Skagway among the few areas in the “low” (blue) risk range; Petersburg census area was at substantial risk (orange); and the Wrangell census area is currently in the moderate (yellow) risk range.
