Washington Reports 1,088 New Coronavirus Cases, The Most Yet

SEATTLE, WA — Monday, state health officials reported eleven new deaths linked to COVID-19 in Washington and 1,088 new confirmed cases of the disease.

That number is a foreboding one: it is the first time the daily case count has surpassed 1,000 and the highest daily count yet. There is a catch: the state Department of Health says the high number can be blamed in part in a data processing issue that caused a backlog of uncounted cases over the holiday weekend. That isn't to say the case count isn't high, however. An average of 711 cases have been reported daily over the past four days— a number which would have been a record any time before the last week, but now appears to be the new normal.

Despite the record high infections, the state has yet to see the numbers mirrored in hospitalizations or deaths. It's still a problem though, health officials warn more cases means extra opportunities for the virus to be transmitted to an elderly or high risk patient.

Last week health officials in both Pierce and King counties reported that many of their recent coronavirus cases have been in younger adults aged 20-39. Experts say that's worrying, because young adults tend to be more mobile and could go on to spread the disease to vulnerable populations.

To prevent a surge in new deaths, health officials are urging everyone to treat the pandemic as seriously as the state did during total lockdown— or risk having the state go backwards through the Safe Start plan and shut down nonessential businesses once again. The governor has also announced a temporary freeze preventing counties from moving forward phases in the Safe Start plan, meaning no businesses will be reopening or restrictions lifting for almost two weeks.

Deaths Wednesday were reported in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Thurston and Yakima counties. One of the 11 deaths has not been assigned to a county yet.

The new numbers mean a total of 36,985 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in the state since the outbreak began, and 1,370 people have died.

A total of 629,256 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:

The final counties leave Phase 1

Despite the freeze on counties moving forward to the next phase of the Safe Start plan, there has been some slight forward motion over the weekend.

Benton, Franklin and Yakima counties were all approved to enter into a modified Phase 1, which allows them to reopen select businesses as if they were in Phase 2, while keeping other businesses restricted. For example, construction and manufacturing can reopen as if the county is in Phase 2, but restaurants can only serve customers in outdoor seating, while normal Phase 2 allows for indoor dining.

Case counts remain high in all three counties, but state officials say they think that by reopening some businesses, they'll cut down on the number of people traveling across Washington to get goods and services, and hopefully slow the spread of the virus to rural communities.

The counties were the last three of Washington's 39 counties still stuck in full Phase 1. Chelan and Douglas counties are also in a modified Phase 1, and King County had been in a modified Phase 1 as well before transitioning into a full Phase 2 several weeks ago.

Now that the three counties have moved ahead, they'll be the last counties to do so until the governor's order halting all phase transitions ends on July 16.

Stricter facial covering requirements begin Tuesday

Starting Tuesday, businesses in Washington state will be required to forbid customers who do not wear masks from entering their stores. Those that don't, could end up facing fines or other enforcement.

The governor announced the move at a news briefing Thursday, noting there was likely to be some push-back to these changes, but saying the stricter requirements were necessary to curb the rising number of coronavirus cases.

"Now, we're doing this for some very powerful reasons," said Inslee. "First, we're doing this because of the extremely troublesome spike in the number of cases that we are experiencing across the state of Washington, and because we know the better we can protect ourselves from the virus, the better we can avoid repeating the painful shutdowns that we have had to experience in the last several months."

The proclamation banning businesses from allowing mask-less customers inside is not an entirely new idea, a similar requirement has already been in place in Yakima County for several weeks.

Businesses that refuse to comply with the order could be punished but, like the mask mandate issued earlier which requires residents to wear masks in public spaces, Inslee says the greater goal is to emphasize the danger of the virus, rather than punishing noncompliance.

"We should not have to go that route," said Inslee

Read more: Washington Ban On Mask-Less Customers Begins Tuesday

Seattle passes tax on big businesses to fund coronavirus relief

Seattle City Council has passed a progressive payroll tax on the city's largest businesses with a vote of 7 - 2.

The tax, called JumpStart Seattle, was proposed by councilmember Teresa Mosqueda in mid-June as an alternative to councilmember Kshama Sawant's Amazon Tax, an earlier proposal that would have raised roughly up to $500 million each year from Seattle's largest businesses. JumpStart Seattle will raise an estimated $214 million instead.

JumpStart Seattle's tax will only go into effect starting next year, but some coronavirus relief funding will come much quicker. $86 million will be given for coronavirus relief for small businesses, immigrants and refugee support programs, housing and food security. That money will then be replenished by the JumpStart Seattle tax raised next year. The remaining money the tax raises in 2021 will be split between emergency services, COVID-19 relief programs and administration costs.

The tax raises money through the payrolls of Seattle's biggest companies and highest paid employees: it only employs companies that pay out $7 million to employees annual, and only on the payrolls of employees who make more than $150,000 each year. Depending on how much those employees make, their employers will be taxed between 0.7 and 2.4 percent of their pay.

Read more: Seattle City Council Passes $200 Million Tax On Big Businesses

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.