June 24, 2020 — A dozen of Alaska’s new cases of COVID-19 reported Tuesday by state health officials are out-of-state seafood workers in Dillingham, a small fishing town with limited health care capacity where locals had been wary of outsiders bringing in the virus.
The 12 workers are among 19 new cases in nonresidents, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services COVID-19 dashboard. That’s the highest daily nonresident count since the pandemic began in March.
The state’s active-case count also hit new high of 264, as reported Tuesday. That number reflects residents who test positive and aren’t yet considered recovered.
The state reported one new resident sick enough to be hospitalized Tuesday, for a total since March of 63.
Along with the nonresident cases, the state reported another 16 new cases in Alaska residents, most of them in Anchorage, with other individual cases scattered from Nome and Bethel to Mat-Su, Homer and Fairbanks.