Washington Reports 6 More Coronavirus Deaths, 544 New Cases

SEATTLE, WA — State health officials reported 544 coronavirus cases and six additional deaths in Washington on Friday.

Per the latest data, 79,011 patients have tested positive in the state since the crisis began, and at least 1,991 people have died from complications linked to COVID-19. According to the state, approximately 269 patients with confirmed or suspected illnesses are currently hospitalized. Overall, hospitalizations continue to trend downward.

At least 2,611 new illnesses have been confirmed in Washington over the last seven days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's case tracker. The number of new cases reported statewide has shown steady improvement in recent weeks.

Health labs have processed at least 1,614,748 tests in Washington since the public health crisis began.

Many of Washington's counties still show a rate of cases by population higher than the target threshold of 25 cases per 100,000 residents over 14 days. However, King, Pierce, Snohomish, Skagit, Kitsap and Lewis counties are now in the moderate range, reporting between 50 and 75 cases per 100,000.

Under state-issued guidance, counties in the mid-range can consider welcoming back younger students for some in-person instruction. In King County, the health officer said Friday that school districts were asked to hold off on changes until two weeks after Labor Day, that way the data can account for any potential spikes linked to the holiday weekend.

Officials: COVID-19 case counts continued to decline through August

The state's weekly situation report showed a decline in overall COVID-19 activity in Washington over August, providing a promising sign that current effort to curb new infections are working, according to state health officials. However, the progress made is not uniform in all places, and the state says more work needs to be done to severely diminish transmission.

"While we see some encouraging trends in case counts, the risk remains extremely high throughout the state," said John Wiesman, state Secretary of Health. "The situation in Whitman County illustrates just how quickly an outbreak can wipe out our progress toward keeping case counts low. It is still critical that we limit the size and frequency of our in-person gatherings, wear face coverings and stay home when we are sick."

Here are some highlights from the state's latest report:

• The reproductive number (how many new people each COVID-19 patient will infect) was close to one in western Washington and above one in eastern Washington as of August 28. The best estimate of the reproductive number at that time was 0.86 in western Washington and 1.22 in eastern Washington. The goal is a number well below one, which would mean COVID-19 transmission is declining.
• We’re seeing decreases in case counts in both eastern and western Washington since the start of August. These decreases are occurring across all age groups. We are starting to see similar trends in hospitalizations and deaths, which take longer to reflect changing levels of disease activity than case counts.
• Whitman County is a notable exception, with a sharp spike in cases starting August 19. While many of these cases are linked to an outbreak among young adults, we may see a repeat of previous patterns where increased disease activity among younger populations starts to spread into older and more vulnerable groups.
• Patterns of decline look different from county to county. The report compares these trends in Yakima county, which has seen steady declines since a peak in early June; Benton and Franklin counties, where initial declines after similar outbreaks have plateaued and transmission may be increasing; and King County, where cases have been decreasing steadily since early July.
• People are interacting more safely than we were earlier in the pandemic, and it’s making a difference. The report includes a model that isolates the effect of mobility changes from non-mobility related changes on COVID-19 transmission. The comparison suggests that while we are more mobile than we were in April, we are interacting more safely—taking precautions like wearing face coverings, restricting gathering size and keeping high-risk environments closed. We must continue these precautions to keep transmission decreasing.

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.