The City and Borough of Juneau reported 87 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, with 75 of those among people 18 and younger.
The city reported 75 cases for 18 and under — 55 were from children under 12 — and during the city’s weekly update public health nurse April Rezendes said young people were consistently making up a large portion of the city’s new cases.
“About a quarter or a third of our cases are youth 18 or under,” Rezendes said.
Rezendes said many children are still unvaccinated and students were being tested frequently as schools have brought back a number of in-person activities.
The Juneau School District reported one new case at Harborview Elementary, the city said, and the child was infectious while in school. However, no classes are quarantined as there is no student attendance at schools this week due to the Alaska Day holiday, parent-teacher conferences, and staff in-service, the city said. Student activities are still going on this week.
Despite the high number of cases in Juneau, only one person is currently hospitalized for COVID-19 at Bartlett Regional Hospital.
[UA president: No systemwide mandate for now, but vaccine requirement coming]
Statewide the Alaska Department of Health and Social Service reported 2,842 new cases and 66 new deaths, two of which were reported in Juneau. Some of those deaths occurred earlier in the year dating back to April, the state said, but “the vast majority are fatalities that occurred in September and October,” with 10 deaths being described as recent.
The city of Juneau previously reported the two deaths listed by DHSS Tuesday in September. There have been 11 resident deaths reported for Juneau and one nonresident death. According to the city’s COVID-19 dashboard, 80% of Juneau’s population 12 and older is vaccinated, or 68.9% of the total population.
Statewide there have been a total of 659 resident deaths and 24 nonresident deaths, according to DHSS data.
• Contact reporter Peter Segall at psegall@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SegallJnuEmpire.
