Sitka chalked up two more confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Thursday (8-27-20).
The Sitka Unified Command reports that a girl between the ages of 10 and 19 tested positive on August 23. She was not experiencing any symptoms of the disease at the time she was tested.
The second positive patient tested the next day: A man age between 60 and 69, who was experiencing symptoms.
Both patients are isolating. Public health officials have initiated a contact investigation and are notifying anyone who may have been exposed to the virus by either individual.
The two new cases put Sitka at 39 resident cases and 17 non-resident cases — for a total of 56. Only one person has been hospitalized.
Sitka has adopted a new color-coded risk system based on the daily incidence of new cases in the community, averaged over 14 days. The two new cases give Sitka a rolling average of .57 cases per day over the last two weeks, which falls into the “moderate risk” category — or orange. Recommendations at the moderate alert level include wearing masks in indoor public spaces, maintaining physical distancing, fewer than 100 people at any gathering — preferably outdoors — and reduced capacity for bars and restaurants. You can find more information about Sitka’s Yellow-Orange-Red alert system on KCAW’s Morning Interview.
The statewide case count for the coronavirus as of noon today (Friday, August 28) stands at 5,092 cumulative resident cases, and 831 non-resident cases, for a total of 5,923 cases — of which 3,740 are active. To date, 37 Alaska residents have died from the coronavirus.
