Local health officials reported 8 new COVID cases on Thursday (8-26-21).
Half of the new cases are children between 10 and 19 years old. Two women in their 20s and two women in their 50s also tested positive. Three of the cases are “non-residents.” Six were experiencing symptoms when they received testing. Three cases are listed as “secondary” meaning they had known close-contact with someone else who tested positive for the virus. Contact tracing is in progress for the rest of the cases.
So far today (8-27-21), five new cases have been reported. The city updates its COVID dashboard by 8 p.m. daily.
Sitka has seen a number of coronavirus cases over the last week, keeping the community’s average case rate hovering around 7 per day. The rate is still much lower than it was at the height of the outbreak in mid-July, but the COVID alert level remains “high.”
The percentage of partially vaccinated Sitkans also increased on Thursday. According to city data, nearly 82 percent of eligible Sitkans over 12 have now received at least one COVID vaccine shot.
