With alarming headlines about the growing danger of COVID-19, the Alaska Watchman would like to provide the following stats to help keep things in perspective.
It’s true that the overall number of Alaskans documented to have been infected continues to rise just as Gov. Mike Dunleavy expected. We now stand at 988 current and active COVID cases and 688 fully recovered cases. The far more important metrics, however, regarding hospital capacity and death rates have remained extremely low.
These are the numbers as of July 16 regarding overall hospital capacity across the state.
- Available inpatient beds: 598 (out of a total of 1,400)
- Available ICU beds: 76 (out of a total of 169)
- Available ventilators: 261 (out of 284)
Keep in mind that nearly all hospital beds currently occupied are being used for non-COVID-19 patients. With regards to ventilators, not a single COVID patient in Alaska is on one. All total, there are just 32 people who are currently hospitalized due to COVID. This includes those who have tested positive, as well as those “under investigation” for COVID.
The most important metric is deaths. Since June 11, Alaska has reported two deaths related to COVID-19 for a total of 17 since the state began tracking these numbers on March 3.
