Alaska shatters COVID-19 case record as omicron adds to growing strain on hospitals

Buddy Whitt was swabbed at the Capstone COVID-19 drive-thru testing site at 4810 C Street in Anchorage on Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, in preparation to travel through Canada on his way to Juneau for the legislative session.

The latest developments have dealt yet another blow to an exhausted health care workforce, and come just months after a delta-driven surge pushed many of the state’s hospitals close to a breaking point. At the same time, Bernstein said he’s cautiously optimistic about the coming weeks given that the variant seems less severe, many people likely have some level of existing immunity through vaccine or prior infection, plus there are some newer oral antiviral medicines. As of Wednesday, about 63.3% of Alaskans 5 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose while 57.9% were considered fully vaccinated.

On Wednesday, 38 employees, including 28 hospital staffers, were out across the Foundation Health Partners System — the highest total since the start of the pandemic, according to spokesperson Kelly Atlee. The number of employees missing work has sharply increased in the past week. Since the start of the pandemic, 953 Alaskans and 32 nonresidents in the state have died from the virus. That includes five deaths reported Wednesday, all involving Anchorage residents: a man in his 50s, two men in their 60s and a man and a woman in their 70s.

“As we’ve gone longer and longer into this pandemic, the ability to manage chronic diseases at home may be compromised over time,” he said. “It seems like we’re having more of those lately.”

Omicron is spreading quickly enough that it can be likened to an earthquake. Cases are the P-waves that travel at high speed from epicenter, tripping early warning alarms. S-waves are the deaths and hospitalizations that come later. They are what you feel as the earthquake.

pdougherty Ignore the hospitals filling up with “less severe Covid patients” If we didn’t test there wouldn’t be a problem. Let’s end this phony pandemic and the alleged human caused climate change by electing science denying leaders who aren’t burdened by so-called ‘facts’. Vote Republican

Alaska reported more than 4,500 cases over two days, and even though virus hospitalizations aren’t close to previous highs, other factors — like COVID-related staff absences — are taking a toll on hospitals.

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