Five more Sitkans tested positive for the coronavirus today (7-8-21), and three more hospitalizations were reported.
The new patients range in age from a child under 10 to a woman in her 80s, according to city data. All of the patients were experiencing symptoms when they received testing today. One of the cases is listed as “secondary” meaning they had known contact with a patient who tested positive. As of press time, contact tracing is still in progress for the other four patients.
The city’s rolling COVID rate is now the highest it has been since December. Sitka’s biggest COVID outbreak was in November. At the peak of that outbreak, the city was averaging around five new cases a day.
In the last week, five hospitalizations have been reported, almost doubling Sitka’s hospitalization rate for the entire pandemic, with 11 total.
In a press release issued today, Fire Chief Craig Warren said the city would begin publishing new cases’ vaccination status to the COVID dashboard. Since the beginning of the pandemic, local health officials have reported 424 local coronavirus cases. 29 cases are active, according to city data.
