Coronavirus updates: State reaches 86,638 cases, 2,100 deaths
Updated at 8:50 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Monday reported 369 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. Deaths were not reported due to a DOH data link interruption.
Worldwide, more than 1 million people have died from the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Pierce County reported 49 cases Monday and one new death. Pierce County has a total of 171 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Monday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 86,638 cases and 2,100 deaths, up from 86,269 cases Sunday. Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.
Nineteen people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Sept. 9, the most recent date with complete data. Late March had two days with 88 people admitted, the highest numbers to date during the pandemic.
On Sept. 17, the most recent date with complete data, 13,378 specimens were collected statewide, with 3.2% testing positive. The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 3.1%. More than 1.8 million tests have been conducted in Washington.
The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction tests, which are administered while the virus is presumably still active in the body.
King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 21,198 cases and 768 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 11,405 cases and 258 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 7,961.
All counties in Washington have cases. Ten counties have case counts of fewer than 100.
On Monday, Washington had a 1,145-per-100,000-people case rate. The national rate is 2,144, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana has the highest rate in the United States at 3,564. Vermont is lowest at 278.
There had been more than 7.1 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 205,031 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Monday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation. Global cases exceed 33 million.
Worldwide death toll from coronavirus eclipses 1 million
Updated at 8:50 a.m.
The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 1 million, nine months into a crisis that has devastated the global economy, tested world leaders’ resolve, pitted science against politics and forced multitudes to change the way they live, learn and work.
“It’s not just a number. It’s human beings. It’s people we love,” said Dr. Howard Markel, a professor of medical history at the University of Michigan who has advised government officials on containing pandemics and lost his 84-year-old mother to COVID-19 in February.
“It’s our brothers, our sisters. It’s people we know,” he added. “And if you don’t have that human factor right in your face, it’s very easy to make it abstract.”
The bleak milestone, recorded on Monday in the U.S. by Johns Hopkins University, is greater than the population of Jerusalem or Austin, Texas. It is 2 1/2 times the sea of humanity that was at Woodstock in 1969. It is more than four times the number killed by the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
Even then, the figure is almost certainly a vast undercount because of inadequate or inconsistent testing and reporting and suspected concealment by some countries.
And the number continues to mount. Nearly 5,000 deaths are reported each day on average. Parts of Europe are getting hit by new outbreaks, and experts fear a second wave in the U.S., which accounts for about 205,000 deaths, or 1 out of 5 worldwide. That is far more than any other country, despite America’s wealth and medical resources.
“I can understand why ... numbers are losing their power to shock, but I still think it’s really important that we understand how big these numbers really are,” said Mark Honigsbaum, author of “The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria and Hubris.”
COVID-19 was twice as contagious as experts thought when pandemic started, study says
Updated at 8:50 a.m.
During the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization estimated that each sick individual was infecting an average of two others. This “basic reproductive number” — or (R0) and pronounced “R naught” — reveals how contagious a disease is.
Now, new research from Duke University says the number was likely twice as big, with one infected individual bringing down an average of 4 to 5 people with them, according to a study published Sept. 24 in the journal PLOS One.
The findings also show that governments in the 57 countries analyzed had about 20 days from their first reported cases to enforce preventive measures such as social distancing and face mask guidelines to prevent widespread infections and deaths — which they did not take advantage of.
This, researchers say, means the time frame to reduce the R0 to below 1.1 infections — a scenario where infections continue but outbreaks don’t occur — was much smaller than expected.
“These numbers confirm that we only had a small window of time to act, and unfortunately that’s not what happened in most countries,” study lead author Gabriel Katul, a professor of hydrology and micrometeorology at Duke University, said in a news release.
Katul said the study can be used to better prepare for a second wave of COVID-19 or for future pandemics, which experts say is likely.
“In the end, it all comes down to timely, effective intervention. The best defense against uncontrolled future outbreaks is to put stringent safety protocols in place at the first sign of an outbreak and make use of the tools science has provided us.”
This story was originally published September 29, 2020 at 8:50 AM.
