Coronavirus Cases Surpass 40,000 In Washington; 1,438 Dead

SEATTLE, WA — State health officials confirmed 1,438 new coronavirus cases in Washington on Sunday, reflecting a two-day increase after the state's data monitoring system went offline for maintenance Saturday.

At least 40,656 people have now tested positive for COVID-19 in Washington. Another 14 people have died from the virus as of Sunday, bringing the state's death toll to 1,438.

Also on Sunday, Garfield County reported its first case of COVID-19. The Eastern Washington county had been the only remaining county in the state not to report any coronavirus cases.

Washington has now tested 686,005 people for the virus, with about 5.9 percent of tests coming back positive.

Catch up on other recent developments:

Health department says it sent some virus alerts in error

The state Department of Health said Sunday that it accidentally sent texts and emails about coronavirus contact tracing to random phone numbers and email addresses as part of a training session for staff.

The messages were sent in late May and early July and were delivered fewer than 50 times, the DOH said. As a result, though, some people may have improperly told they needed to take actions to avoid spreading COVID-19.

"When we discovered this error, we corrected it immediately and began working to notify anyone who may have been impacted," the state said in a news release. "We deeply regret this error and any inconvenience or concern it may have caused people who received the messages."

Mountlake Terrace uses stimulus funding to mail people masks

Mountlake Terrace, the Snohomish County city north of Seattle, will use the federal funding it got from the CARES Act to mail two face masks to every address in the city's ZIP code, the Seattle Times reported.

The city, which has more than 21,000 residents, will send the masks to about 9,700 addresses, including businesses. The cost of the masks adds up to about $40,000, plus about $8,500 to mail them all, a city official told the Times.

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.