Alaska State has reported on Thursday, 6 August, 2020, 4 new cases including three residents and one staff member at the Anchorage Pioneer Home.
An emailed statement from the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday showed that the initial case was identified the previous day, Wednesday.
The statement added that three additional cases were identified on Thursday August 6, 2020, during another testing of residents and staff in the same neighbourhood within the home.
All those who tested positive have been isolated, and the health officials are currently investigating all cases identified, according to the statement.
A spokesman for the State said no official information about the health status of the residents or staff, including their COVID-19 symptoms experience.
Alaska State has six elder-care facilities operating in Sitka, Ketchikan, Juneau, Fairbanks, Anchorage and Palmer.
In March, the novel coronavirus pandemic forced the government to close all the facilities to visitors.
Elderly people are at high risk of contracting the virus and will more likely require hospitalization, intensive care or a ventilator if they test positive for the virus, according to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In mid-July, Alaska State authorities said some health care facilities would reopen to only limited visitations from family after nearly 4 months of isolation.
However, officials announced that some facilities with high levels of community spread, including Anchorage, which has been closed since March 17 as well as Fairbanks, would remain closed.
One coronavirus case was reported in June at the Fairbanks Pioneer Home, after which residents of Alaska Pioneer Homes recorded their first coronavirus cases on Thursday, August 6, 2020.
The statement said all those who tested positive including the elders and an employee are isolating, and will be given the required support, “as much as possible.”
So far, Alaska State has reported more than 4000 cases and 23 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic.
