Health Officials Report 15 More Coronavirus Deaths, 637 Cases

SEATTLE, WA — State health officials confirmed 15 new deaths linked to COVID-19 in Washington and 637 new confirmed cases of the disease Friday, capping off a week that saw some of the highest daily case counts yet.

Washington is hardly alone in having high case count: Thursday marked the sixth time in 10 days the United States had set a new record for daily cases. Several hard-hit states have reported daily death tolls in the hundreds. Texas announced 119 deaths on Wednesday alone, and the country overall averaged 608 daily deaths over the past seven days.

In Washington, deaths Friday were reported in Benton, Chelan, Clark, Franklin, King, Snohomish, Whatcom and Yakima counties.

The new numbers mean a total of 39,218 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in the state since the outbreak began, and 1,424 people have died.

A total of 668,466 Washingtonians have been tested for the coronavirus, meaning roughly 5.9 percent of tests come back positive.

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Catch up on the latest developments:

Washington pushes back on reopening colleges

The federal government has issued a warning to colleges and universities: if classes are held remotely in the fall semester, international students will lose their visas. The Trump administration announced the plan July 6, and has given colleges until the 15 to announce their decisions.

But Washington says: that's illegal and count potentially force colleges and universities into hastily making an unsafe choice. Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration and ICE Friday, which aims to invalidate their decision and protect international students.

"President Trump and ICE need to let colleges and universities make their own decisions about the health, safety, and education of their students, not arbitrarily and illegally punish schools that want to provide classes remotely," said Ferguson.

Ferguson's office argues the move unfairly jeopardizes the health of students and teachers. It also endangers state tuition revenue at a time when Washington needs its economy to be strongest. Roughly 27,000 international students are attending colleges and universities in Washington, bringing with them around $1 billion in spending each year.

The suit will mark the Attorney General's 65th lawsuit against the Trump administration. Of those, Washington state has won 29. Another 35 are still waiting a ruling and the last case is being appealed.

Before the Trump administration's directive many of Washington's colleges and universities may have reopened in-person classes without coercion. The state had already issued a number of safety guidelines to help higher education classes return this fall.

Read more: Washington Sues Over ICE Policy On International Student Visas

Young adults make up most new coronavirus cases

Coronavirus case counts may be spiking, but hospitalization rates have only marginally increased, and there's a reason for that: an overwhelming amount of the new cases are in younger patients.

According to Public Health - Seattle & King County, their latest batch of coronavirus cases can be broken down as:

• 1/3 were in patients aged 20-29
• 1/2 were in patients aged 20-39
• 3/4 of all cases are in patients under 40

Pierce County earlier reported a similar situation, with many of their new cases being younger adults.

Younger adults are not at high of a risk as the elderly, and as a result, while hospitalizations have gone up, they havent spiked to the same degree that case counts have. According to public health over the past two weeks, 1.3 out of every 100,000 King County residents have been hospitalized, up from .8 patients the two weeks before. Health officials admit that's not a huge jump but say it's still a warning sign that residents need to take this virus more seriously.

"We need to fundamentally change the way we interact with each other," Dr. Jeff Duchin, Public Health Officer for Seattle - King County.

Read more: King County: COVID-19 Infection Rate High In Young Adults

Several Seattle beaches to remain closed this summer

Five Seattle beaches will be opening by next Wednesday, but the rest will remain closed for the entire summer, according to a report from The Seattle Times.

Beaches had been closed due to budget cuts amid the coronavirus pandemic, now the money has been secured to reopen just over half of Seattle's 9 beaches with lifeguards.

The other four beaches, East Green Lake Beach, Madrona Park Beach, Magnuson Park Beach, and Seward Park Beach will be staying closed to swimmers. As a warning, the city has placed signs telling potential visitors that the beaches are closed and that they should not be swimming unsupervised in the area.

Read the full report from The Seattle Times here.

Coronavirus cases by county:

The above numbers are provided by the state Department of Health, and some numbers differ from the totals provided separately by county health agencies.