Alaska ICU Capacity Plummets as Alaska DHSS Reports Another 1,000+ Cases of COVID-19
Alaska DHSS has announced a total of 1,053 new cases of COVID-19 in Alaska today, 445 of those cases are in the Municipality of Anchorage.
Alaska DHSS announced 1,053 new cases of COVID-19 in Alaska today; 445 of those new cases are in the Municipality of Anchorage. Yesterday, the state reported 1,095 new cases of people infected with the virus, the state's largest one-day increase since the pandemic began.
According to the most recent hospitalization data updated this morning, the number of available staffed ICU beds in Alaska has plummeted since yesterday's update.
The data shows that the number of available statewide ICU beds dropped from a reported 21 beds yesterday to just 14 available critical care beds this morning. In Anchorage, the number of available staffed ICU beds among the city's three local hospitals is 0, according to the Municipal Dashboard.
Mat-Su has not reported having any available adult ICU beds since September 9.
The number of available staffed adult non-ICU beds dropped from yesterday's reported 33 to 24 this morning.
On September 14, Alaska's largest hospital, Providence Alaska Medical Center, announced they had implemented crisis standards of care, meaning that Providence's care system is overwhelmed and can't provide the typical or standard level of care to patients.
Alaska's two most influential Republicans, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and Anchorage Mayor 'Delta' Dave Bronson, have blithely suggested over recent weeks that Alaskans get vaccinated and wear masks. Healthcare officials have repeatedly sounded the alarm that unless steps are taken to reduce the volume of patients flooding Anchorage Hospital's emergency departments, Anchorage could see a collapse of its healthcare system.
Mayor Bronson issued a press release Tuesday evening in which he doubled down on his decision not to mandate mask-wearing in public spaces, once again citing personal choice, privacy, and citizens' independent health care decisions.
