17 New Coronavirus Deaths In Washington; Total Cases Surpass 43K

SEATTLE, WA — State health officials confirmed 742 new coronavirus cases in Washington on Wednesday and 17 additional deaths linked to COVID-19.

According to the Department of Health, at least 372 patients are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 illnesses across Washington — an increase of 19 from the day before. Dr. Kathy Lofy, the state health officer, said the daily average for hospital admissions, while still well below the peak, is about double where it was in mid-May. The state continues to closely monitor hospital activity and occupancy, coordinate transfers and reprioritize distribution of protective gear to frontline workers as needed.

More than 4,884 new illnesses have been confirmed in Washington over the last seven days, representing a statewide case rate of 561.4 per 100,000 residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's case tracker. The highest rate of cases by population continues to be seen in central Washington counties, particularly in Franklin, Adams and Yakima.

While a portion of the increase can be attributed to recent boosts in testing, other concerning trends continue to play a role.

"While we are doing more testing, we know that the number of cases is not simply due to more testing, but also a rate of increase in disease transmission as well," said John Wiesman, the state secretary of health.

In King County, the effective reproductive number, a figure used to estimate how many people are infected by someone with the illness, is at 1.7 — above the target of one.

Wiesman said the state's guidance on preventing the spread remains the same but must be followed by all to be effective: keep physical distance from others, interact with as few people as possible, maintain a "personal bubble" of a few people and wear face coverings in public spaces.

At least 43,046 people have now tested positive for COVID-19 in Washington. Nearly 734,000 Washingtonians have been tested for the virus, with 5.9 percent of tests coming back positive.

Catch up on the latest developments:

Promising early results in adherence to mask mandates

During a weekly telebriefing with reporters Wednesday, state health leaders pointed to early success in mask use in three counties where transmission rates have been alarmingly high.

Before the governor's statewide mandate requiring masks inside businesses went into effect this month, it was required in just three counties with a large increase in cases: Benton, Franklin and Yakima. As the rules were put in place, the state asked each county to conduct surveys to track how well residents were complying with the directive.

A few weeks ago, Benton and Franklin counties had a 58 percent compliance rate. In the last week, that figure grew to 95 percent. In Yakima County, just 35 percent of those surveyed said they wore face coverings when the survey began. The latest results showed their rate of compliance also grew to 95 percent.

The state secretary of health said preliminary findings in Yakima County have coincided with a nearly 60 percent drop in transmission rates since early June.

Report finds coronavirus spread must be reduced to safely reopen King County schools

A recent report from the Bellevue-based Institute for Disease Modeling shows significant progress must be made to curb the spread of the coronavirus if schools are to successfully reopen in the fall.

According to researchers, efforts to reduce spread in school buildings will not sufficiently suppress transmission on its own, if the rate of infection remains where it is now.

The report finds that community-wide mitigation efforts, including limited mobility, must improve before schools open in September, or risk triggering "exponential growth" in COVID-19 activity.

"Under a scenario in which mobility in the community increases to 80% of pre-COVID levels, none of the mitigating strategies in schools we explored would be able to reduce the effective reproductive number to one or below, meaning the epidemic will grow," the authors wrote.

Read more: Study: Reopening Schools Depends On Public's Help Managing Virus

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.