Alaska health officials are now calling the Fairbanks area the “hotspot” for coronavirus in Alaska. That’s despite more total cases in Anchorage, where there’s also been two deaths, and a higher percentage of cases in Ketchikan relative to that city’s population.
Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink, explained at a Monday evening press conference that calling Fairbanks a hotspot is about more than just the numbers. That’s based on things like the rate of infection among people who have not recently traveled or been in close contact with someone known to be infected, also known as community transmission, as well as where the disease is spreading in the city, Zink said.
“We’re looking at how many community cases we have, we’re looking at cases in high vulnerable populations, such as long term care facilities, and we’re looking at what sort of spread how many case contacts those people have,” Zink said.