WA DOH Reports 4 Deaths, 260 Coronavirus Infections

SEATTLE — The Washington State Department of Health reported four more coronavirus-related deaths and 260 new cases of the virus Monday.

That's a significantly lower number of daily cases that the state has reported in recent weeks, but state officials say that's because it's likely not accurate. The DOH says system maintenance over the weekend interfered with their ability to process lab reports on Sunday, which probably led to underreporting case counts Monday. The system has since been fixed so if that is the case, the numbers will even out over the next few days, likely with a larger than normal bump in cases reported Tuesday.

Deaths Monday were reported in Franklin, Grant, Pierce and Spokane counties.

The latest numbers mean that a total of 1,785 Washington residents have died and 67,721 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed since the pandemic began.

Study shows racial disparity in hospitalizations

Washington's leaders have repeatedly warned how the pandemic was disproportionately impacting minority communities, but now a new study has given some insight showing just how much more the pandemic is impacting the Black and Hispanic communities over their white neighbors.

According to the new study examining COVID-19 hospitalizations by race and ethnicity published in JAMA Monday, Black Washingtonians account for 6 percent of coronavirus-related hospitalizations, despite making up just 3.9 percent of the state's population.

Similarly, Hispanic residents made up 25.1 percent of hospitalizations, but represent only 12.9 percent of Washington's population.

Washington is not alone in having these issues. The percentage of hospitalizations among Black patients exceeded their overall share of the state population in all 12 states, the study found. The difference was the greatest in Ohio, followed by Minnesota, Indiana and Kansas.

Read more: WA Coronavirus Hospitalizations Show Racial Disparities: Study

Total coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths 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.