Coronavirus updates: State passes 94k cases; Inslee announces group for economic recovery
Updated at 9:15 a.m.
The Washington state Department of Health reported on Tuesday 1,740 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 21 deaths. The numbers reflect a backlog of data. The state did not report coronavirus data on Monday. It no longer reports deaths on weekends.
Pierce County reported 66 cases Tuesday and one new death. Pierce County has a total of 182 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Tuesday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 94,775
, up from 93,035 cases Sunday and 2,190 deaths Friday. Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.
Thirty-one people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Sept. 24, the most recent date with complete data. Average daily hospitalizations peaked in early April at 78.
On Oct. 2, the most recent date with complete data, 16,061 specimens were collected statewide, with 3.7% testing positive. The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 3.5%. More than 2.1 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 24,297 cases and 788 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 11,609 cases and 266 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 8,823, according to the state’s tally.
All counties in Washington have cases. Eight counties have case counts of fewer than 100.
For the past seven days, Washington had a 6.8-per-100,000-people case rate. The national rate for the same period is 15.2, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. North Dakota has the highest rate in the United States at 72.9. Vermont is lowest at 1.4.
Inslee announces new state group for COVID-19 economic recovery
Updated at 9:15 a.m.
Gov. Jay Inslee introduced a new state effort to help communities recover from the social and economic damage resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Washington Recovery Group will help state agencies coordinate with local governments, higher education and the private sector.
“COVID-19 has tested our state in many ways and each crisis is a learning experience,” Inslee said in a release. “While local governments, businesses and our agencies have made heroic efforts to protect and care for our communities, this crisis highlights gaps we need to close in our emergency recovery efforts and long-term rebuilding efforts. This new group will help state agencies change how we do business so that we can better serve the people of Washington.”
State agency experts will work with local stakeholders and tribal partners to implement recovery solutions and pathways. Those ideas and policy solutions will be presented to cabinet agencies and the Office of Financial Management. The areas of focus include: Community and social services, education and childcare, employment and jobs, equity and social justice, health and healthcare, housing, infrastructure and energy and support for small business.
Washington state governor: Counties in modified phase 1 are going to phase 2
Updated at 9:15 a.m.
Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday that Yakima, Benton, Franklin, Douglas and Chelan counties will move to phase two of the state’s Safe Start plan in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Those counties had been in a modified phase one.
“These counties and their people have made tremendous progress,” Inslee said during a virtual press conference.
In early June in Yakima County, for instance, he said the average cases per 100,000 people was 753. Now it’s 93.
Benton is at 109, which the governor said is a quarter the rate there in July.
“The COVID risk was off the charts for these counties last summer ... ,” he said. “As a result of masking up, they have knocked down those numbers dramatically.”
The governor said that the “COVID risk assessment has leveled out when you compare the five modified phase one counties to their neighbors,” and that moving those counties to phase two “will better align them with the rest of the region.”
He called the change “relatively modest,” as far as the additional activity allowed.
“It means some larger occupancy for religious services, restaurants, wedding receptions and more under phase two,” he said.
Among other activity, phase two allows for some youth and adult sports, gathering with up to five people outside your household a week, and increased occupancy limits at some businesses. It also allows movie theaters, libraries and museums to open at 25-percent occupancy.
This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 9:21 AM.
