CBJ reports 26 new COVID-19 cases in Juneau

The City and Borough of Juneau Emergency Operations Center is reporting 26 new Juneau residents with COVID-19. Eleven are part of a new cluster; none are connected to the cluster of cases associated with Juneau’s vulnerable/unsheltered population. Due to a statewide backlog of cases, thorough contact tracing is strained, which means infection acquisition of most individuals will remain under investigation. Juneau residents who test positive are urged to immediately call their own close contacts. Read more about what to do here.

Eleven of the new cases are employees at Mendenhall Auto Center, which closed to the public earlier this week upon learning of its first COVID-positive employee. Public Health says, because the business acted quickly in shutting down and had COVID-19 mitigation measures in place, the potential risk of exposure to patrons is low. Half of the business’s 65 employees have been tested and the other half will be tested today. The current size of the cluster is 12.

The cluster of cases associated with Juneau’s vulnerable/unsheltered population is at 86 at the moment – 24 individuals have active cases and 62 have recovered.

Cumulatively, Juneau has had 512 residents test positive for COVID-19 since March and 104 nonresidents. There are 119 active cases in Juneau and 494 individuals have recovered. All individuals with active cases of COVID-19 are in isolation. There are currently three people with COVID-19 hospitalized at Bartlett Regional Hospital.

Statewide, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services today reports 355 new people with COVID-19 – 349 are residents and six are nonresidents. The state also reports six more deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 77. The death of a male Anchorage resident in his 40s occurred recently. Five other deaths were identified during the standard death certificate review – a female Fairbanks resident in her 80s, a female Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area resident in her 70s, a female Anchorage resident in her 80s, a male Anchorage resident in his 70s, and a male Anchorage resident in his 70s who died out of state.

Alaska has had 14,456 cumulative resident cases of COVID-19 and a total of 1,066 nonresidents.