Juneau has another new resident case of COVID-19

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services reports another new resident case of COVID-19 in Juneau. How the individual contracted the virus is under investigation. Juneau’s case is part of 57 new statewide cases reported today – 53 residents and 4 nonresidents.

Cumulatively, Juneau has had 53 residents test positive for COVID-19 since March. Although six of those were reported over the past five days, only today’s reported case is active; the other recent cases have recovered.

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services considers a person recovered based on the following guidelines:

• Fever has to be completely gone for at least 3 days (72 hours) without the use of fever-reducing medications; AND,
• Improvement in respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath); AND,
• At least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared; for asymptomatic individuals, at least 10 days have passed since taking testing

Because significant lag time exists for any confirmed case — from the time of infection to onset of symptoms, from onset of symptoms to being tested, and the time for the result to come back – a person can actually be determined recovered very soon after results come back.

Statewide, Alaska has had 1,631 resident COVID-19 cases – 945 are active – and a total of 325 nonresident cases.

For more details on COVID-19 in Juneau, go to CBJ’s COVID-19 dashboard.