Alaska finished the week by reporting 305 new COVID-19 cases in the state on Friday and another 195 on Saturday. In total, 1,680 new resident cases were reported in Alaska this week, a significant decrease from last week, when the state reported 2,052 new cases for the week.

As of Jan. 15, at least 43,992 initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in Alaska, and 10,954 people had received both doses. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines required two doses to be effective. Pfizer doses must be administered 21 days apart, while Moderna doses must be administered 28 days apart.

Among residents and nonresidents, the state also reported 18 new hospitalizations and four new deaths this week, for a total of 1,152 and 229, respectively. As of Saturday, there were 67 people in Alaska who were hospitalized due to COVID-19, including four who were considered persons under investigation for the disease. Nine of the patients were on ventilators. As of Friday, 6.6% of all hospitalizations in Alaska were related to COVID-19.

Central Peninsula Hospital External Affairs Director Bruce Richards said Friday that CPH had conducted 11,007 COVID-19 tests with 10,245 negative, 720 positive and 25 pending results. CPH was also treating three patients who were COVID-19 positive as of Friday, with none on ventilators and no new cases at Heritage Place Skilled Nursing facility. CPH’s next COVID-19 vaccination clinic for employees, Richards said, is scheduled for Jan. 26.

Over the last week, the state conducted 32,472 tests and saw a positivity rate of 3.53%. To date, the state has conducted 1,389,649 tests. During the same time period, the Kenai Peninsula Borough conducted 1,146 tests and saw a positivity rate of 1.9%. To date, the borough has conducted 58,099 tests.

There were 74 cases reported by the Kenai Peninsula Borough over the past week, including 10 reported on Friday and nine on Saturday. To date, 3,829 cases have been reported in the borough, 200 of which have been nonresidents. The borough has seen 19 COVID deaths and 80 hospitalizations.

Testing locations on the Kenai Peninsula

On the central peninsula, testing is available at Capstone Family Clinic, K-Beach Medical, Soldotna Professional Pharmacy, Central Peninsula Urgent Care, Peninsula Community Health Services, Urgent Care of Soldotna, the Kenai Public Health Center and Odyssey Family Practice. Call Kenai Public Health at 907-335-3400 for information on testing criteria for each location.

In Homer, testing is available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily at the lower level of South Peninsula Hospital’s Specialty Clinic as well as through SVT Health & Wellness clinics in Homer, Seldovia and Anchor Point. Call ahead at the hospital at 907-235-0235 and at the SVT clinics at 907-226-2228.

In Ninilchik, NTC Community Clinic is providing testing on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The testing is only for those traveling, symptomatic, needing testing for medical procedures, or with a known exposure after seven days. Only 20 tests will be offered per day. To make an appointment to be tested at the NTC Community Clinic, call 907-567-3970.

In Seward, testing is available at Providence Seward, Seward Community Health Center, Glacier Family Medicine and North Star Health Clinic.

This information is based on data reported by Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services between Jan. 9 and Jan. 16.