(2/x) From what I understand, folks who track vital statistics at various states use driver's licenses (and occasionally family claims or voting records) to determine residency.
(3/x) There's something called an "inter-jurisdictional exchange of vital events," which in Alaska takes place weekly. States send other states death certificates for their residents. In this case, it was a Washington death certificate coming to Alaska.
(4/x) Vital statistics folks care about this, because matching a birth certificate to a death certificate means someone's identity can't get stolen, and there's no duplication. Epidemiology folks care about this, because they're interested in rates of incidence.
(5/x) Think of it like a fraction. They're putting the number of Alaskans who died of X disease as the numerator in a fraction where the denominator is the entire state population.
(6/x) This is all about best practices and avoiding double-counting or under-counting. We get someone diagnosed in Washington state, who died in Washington state, as an Alaska death. The converse is true: if someone from Wisconsin dies in Alaska, it is a Wisconsin death.
(7/x) Judging by the past few years' death records (dhss.alaska.gov/dph/VitalStats…) Alaska would need ~80 deaths from coronavirus for it to be among the top 10 killers in the state. There would need to be ~1,000 deaths for it to be the No. 1 killer, ahead of cancer.
