Washington state reports 178 new COVID-19 cases and 9 deaths Friday
The Washington State Department of Health on Friday reported 178 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and nine additional deaths.
Statewide totals are now at 17,951 cases and 992 deaths, up from 17,773 cases and 983 deaths on Thursday.
Pierce County reported 13 new cases and one death on Friday.
King County continues to have the highest numbers with 7,325 cases and 521 deaths. Snohomish County has 2,756 cases and 125 deaths.
Washington’s least populous county, Garfield, remains the only county in the state without a case. Eight other counties are reporting less than 10 cases each.
Washington state has now conducted 255,352 tests with 7 percent coming back positive. The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which are given to patients while the virus is presumably still active in the body.
Test numbers do not yet reflect antibody test results. The state is collecting those results but has not yet released them.
“We know it’s an important tool, but we want to use it correctly,” said state Department of Health spokeswoman Lisa Stromme Warren. The antibody tests are not considered diagnostic, she said.
There have been 1,427,867 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 86,386 deaths from the virus in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.
This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 4:01 PM.
