After weeks of elevated activity, the weekly case rate of COVID-19 in the Kenai Peninsula reported by the State Department of Health has dropped significantly, to the lowest value seen this year.

Weekly case rates — the number of cases per 100,000 residents — of COVID-19 are reported by region via the department’s Respiratory Virus Snapshot. The snapshot was updated Thursday, Feb. 29, to include data through Feb. 24. As of that day, the borough’s case rate has dropped week-over-week from 95.0 to 37.3. The 95.0 reported for the week ending Feb. 17 was the highest local rate reported since the department moved to the snapshot from its now-defunct COVID-19 Data Hub.

A downward motion in case rates of COVID-19 is reported in nine of the 10 regions described on the snapshot — only Southeast Alaska saw a rise.

The number of cases of COVID-19 reported statewide has declined for five consecutive weeks, with only 271 cases reported in the most recent week — down from a high of 738 on Jan. 6.

Activity of the other respiratory viruses tracked on the snapshot, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus, have also remained low, especially in Kenai Peninsula-specific numbers. The most recent case rate for the flu on the peninsula is 11.9. The local rate for RSV is only 1.7, and had fallen to zero the week prior.

For more information about COVID-19 and other viruses in Alaska, visit health.alaska.gov.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.