COVID upswing in Ketchikan, including Pioneer Home

Ketchikan saw an upswing in reported COVID-19 cases in May, with 341 infections recorded during the past 30 days as of May 25.

In addition, the number of active cases involving the Ketchikan Pioneer Home stood at 21 on May 25. The cases involved 18 residents and three staff members at the facility, according to state Health Department spokesperson Clinton Bennett.

The home is at “red-alert” status, indicating that at least one resident has tested positive in a ”neighborhood” or a floor. All of its floors had been affected by COVID, according to Bennett.

Visitation was being limited to compassionate or comfort-care visits only, and the general public and community volunteers were being asked not to visit, Bennett wrote last Friday.

Wrangell’s case count over the past 30 days as of May 25 was 34, after nearly 120 infections were reported to the state in March and April. At-home test results are not included in the state’s numbers.

Statewide, as of May 25, more than 260,000 COVID cases have been reported to health officials since the pandemic tally started in March 2020. The Health Department has reduced the frequency of its case reports to just once a week, every Wednesday morning.

The death toll in Alaska as of May 25 was 1,286.

The pandemic case count in Wrangell totaled 607 as of May 25, according to the state.