More than five years after the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, new strains of the virus continue to develop and adapt. Similar to national trends, cases in Alaska — especially in Southeast — have risen over the course of the summer.

Positive test rates in Southeast Alaska — according to figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention— dropped significantly between October 2024 and June 2025. However, within the past month, data shows the case rate per 100,000 residents escalating mildly.

As of Aug. 2, Southeast led the count among regions statewide at 59.6 positive test results per 100,000 residents, according to Alaska Department of Health figures. That number was 5.4 in the middle of March.

In the final week of July, the Southeast number peaked at 94.8 per 100,000. It was 108.3 in August 2024. Only Northwest Alaska has reported higher rates in 2024 and 2025.

State and nationwide positive rates followed a similar pattern. Across all 10 Alaska regions, a drop in cases over the winter was bookended by high positive test rates in the summer months between April and September.

However, the “case counts may be on the lower end due to the absence of people testing,” Jennifer Bergen — a state public health nurse — told the Ketchikan Daily News.

Joe McLaughlin is the state epidemiologist and chief of the Alaska Section of Epidemiology at the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. Across the state — and also across the United States as a whole, according to McLaughlin — cases of COVID-19 have been on the rise.

“People throughout Alaska and all the various communities want to know what’s happening with COVID right now,” he said. “And the answer is, COVID cases are increasing across the United States — and in Alaska we’re seeing higher case counts in some regions of the state than others.”

Bergen noted that the state does not track COVID-19 cases at the community level anymore.

She called the summer increase “not surprising,” citing the presence of seasonal workers, resident travel and cruise ship passengers in Southeast throughout the summer months.

The Nimbus variant of COVID-19 overtook another variant, LB8.1, in the late spring as the most common strain seen in positive COVID-19 tests. Both are offshoots of the Omicron variant.

“We’re seeing an increased incidence of COVID-19, and then here's the emergency department visits, they're up; hospitalizations are slightly up and deaths really haven't increased much,” McLaughlin said. “There’s a little bit of a blip there, but nothing too dramatic.”

However, Nimbus’s heightened transmissibility capacities mean it can spread far more advantageously than some other Omicron variants.

Nimbus is nicknamed “razor blade throat” for the sharp, painful sore throat reported by those who contract it. While more capable of passing from one person to another as compared to other strains of COVID-19, it travels by the same means.

For those hoping to protect themselves from a case of COVID-19 this summer, McLaughlin recommends wearing masks and distancing socially as one feels comfortable.

“We’re still in peak tourist season in Alaska, so we are going to see not only local transmission of COVID, but we'll also see importation of COVID cases from … the Lower 48.”