Of the over 54,282 cases of Covid-19 that have been diagnosed in Alaskans, only one-half of a percent of them have died from the illness or conditions caused by the illness.
According to the State’s Covid-19 data dashboard, 280 Alaskans have died from the virus. 1,196 have been hospitalized because of the severity of their experience with Covid-19. That means about 23.5 percent of those who are hospitalized with Covid-19 end up dying.
That number can be misleading, because some of those hospitalizations were for people who were already near the end of their lives due to other illnesses or age. Because of privacy laws, it’s unknown just how many, however.
This is not to say the virus isn’t dangerous or life-changing. Some of those who have survived Covid-19 say that they have lingering maladies, such as loss of taste and smell, joint pain, shortness of breath, and difficulty thinking with clarity.
Alaska’s death rate from or with Covid-19 is significantly better than the national average. Of the more than 23 million people who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the United States, some 473,699 have died, or 1.74 percent of known cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As for vaccinations, 175,135 vaccines have been administered to Alaskans, which is 24 percent of the entire population (of all ages) of the state.
Adding together those who have been vaccinated and those who have had the virus, some 229,417 Alaskans should now have greater immunity to Covid. That equates to over 31 percent of the entire population.
