This National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases image shows SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, in yellow.(Courtesy NIAID)
State health authorities reported Tuesday that three more southern panhandle residents had died of COVID-19.
Two of them were Ketchikan women, one in her 70s and one 80 or older. The new deaths bring the official total for the Ketchikan area to 10. Eight of those have occurred since the beginning of August, according to the state’s data dashboard.
Public health officials in Craig reported a Prince of Wales Island woman in her 30s had died of COVID-19.
The death toll in the Prince of Wales-Hyder census area, which includes Prince of Wales Island, Metlakatla, Hyder, Port Alexander and Kake, now stands at six. That includes three from Metlakatla and one from Craig. State authorities don’t typically name communities of fewer than 1,000 residents because of privacy concerns.
The three reported deaths came as state health authorities reported 66 deaths from COVID-19 across the state, including more than 50 identified during a review of death certificates. The state Department of Health and Social Services says COVID-19 deaths are counted when medical professionals who treated the patient determine COVID-19 was “part of the chain of events that led to death,” according to a statement on its data dashboard.
