Alaska reported yet another record for hospitalizations in people with COVID-19 through the weekend and one virus-related death as a weekslong surge linked to the highly infectious delta variant continued.
Fairbanks Memorial Hospital also reported two new deaths in people with the virus on Monday. Fairbanks and North Pole are seeing high numbers of COVID-19 cases, including 175 cases reported on Friday alone. The state reported the death of an Anchorage man 80 or older. Since March 2020, 445 Alaskans and 14 out-of-state residents have died with COVID-19, a total that doesn’t yet include the two Fairbanks deaths.
A combination of staff shortages, heavy overall admissions levels and a crush of COVID-19 patients is pushing the state’s hospitals to the brink of what the system can handle and still provide care, medical providers and health officials say.