Alaska

What percentage of testing volume in AK's total test data is antigen testing vs. PCR testing?

From our data reported to the Section of Epidemiology: ~8% antigen ~92% molecular

Do you have any comments about AK's page on CTP's web site?

I also do have some questions/suggestions about the Alaska page, which looks great by the way! - I would suggest either reporting numbers by AK residents counts only (this is the national standard used by CDC which includes AK residents diagnosed and isolated out of state as well), or by Occurrence (AK residents and non-residents that were diagnosed and isolated in AK only). As of Aug 4 , we now have filtering options to get both numbers. It looks like you are including all cases (all AK residents, including out-of-state AK residents, and by Occurrence).

- For hospitalizations, we do have both currently hospitalized and cumulative hospitalizations, but do note that they come from different data sources. The count from the Hospital Reporting Dashboard provides a census of current COVID hospitalizations (this is a snapshot, so we do not know if the same persons was hospitalized on more than one day)

- today we show 39 COVID positive and 7 PUI the hospitalizations for Aug 12 . Unfortunately, we do not get a break out by resident type from the hospital reports, and this count does not include AK residents hospitalized out-of-state.

The Cases Dashboard shows a count of cumulative cases hospitalized and this info comes from the Section of Epidemiology through contact tracing investigations and/or hospitals as well (AK residents = 166, Occurrence in AK = 165).

- We just had a change on our dashboard that is causing a lot of questions. You can use this text under the July 16 text if you’d like (feel free to reword):

"As of August 4 , we are reporting test date based on the date a test specimen was collected from an individual; whereas before, test date was based on when the test result was returned to the state. This is a more accurate way of presenting when testing actually occurred, but it will result in a temporary gap in data that appears as an artificial drop in cases until all test results are returned for each test collection date."

We are working on adding current COVID and PUI ICU hospitalizations as we work to update our Hospitalization Dashboard (our next project).

Let me know if you cannot find data for any of the state grade factors. We have most of that info on the Summary Tables, which all have .CSV files and API linkages.

Are you conducting antigen tests? If so, are those test results included in your state COVID portal? And how any antigen tests have you conducted?

- some private clinics in Alaska are doing Antigen tests. The state is not performing any at this time. - details on how many antigen tests have been performed I will have to let our data team answer - but we are treating a positive antigen test like a positive PCR test and advising clinicians on the lower sensitivity.

Some private clinics in Alaska are doing Antigen tests. The state is not preforming any at this time. Details on how many antigen tests have been performed I will have to let our data team answer - but **we are treating a positive antigen test like a positive PCR test **and advising clinicians on the lower sensitivity. We are not including serology (antibody) tests in our counts, but we are now including antigen tests per the new CDC case definition.

Is Alaska performing pool testing? If so, how is that testing reported?

ASHNHA is supporting the State of Alaska with collecting situational awareness data regarding available inpatient and ICU beds as well as utilization of ventilators.  We are not currently collecting any information on testing, so no, there is no information on tests collected with the ASHNHA data that is shared with the state.  The State of Alaska has a separate system for labs and my understanding is that this data is being collected through Epidemiology.

Not yet, but they are working on it. How to report -- that is something we are talking about.

not yet, but are working on it How to report -- that is something we are talking about.

What types of tests are you using?

See answer about pooled testing -- ASHNHA doesn't provide that info. I asked for contact in Epidemiology dept at Alaska Health Dept. waiting for response.

many PCR test on different platforms as well as molecular tests like the Abbott now

Many PCR test on different platforms as well as molecular tests like the Abbott ID NOW, Hologic Panther