The COVID-19 curve continues to flatten, but infections remain high in Washington
COVID-19’s spread is slowing in Washington state, but there is a long way to go before it reaches levels last seen in summer and fall, according to health officials.
That’s the assessment in the state’s latest situation report, released Thursday.
“Based on the timing of this trend, the plateaus may be due in part to the current restrictions on gatherings and certain businesses,” the state Department of Health said.
The reproduction rate of COVID-19 in Western Washington last hit 1.0 or less in September, meaning each infected person was passing the disease on to only one person, on average. In Eastern Washington, it last reached 1.0 in October.
In November, the reproduction rate rose to around 1.5, meaning each coronavirus-infected person was infecting between one and two people.
Current stats show the reproduction rate is 1.03 in Western Washington and 1.11 in Eastern Washington. As long as that number stays above 1.0, the spread of COVID-19 will increase.
The current estimated proportion of Washington residents with COVID-19 is the same as it was in mid-November, according to DOH.
“If we don’t maintain the behaviors that have lowered transmission over the past month, we could see exponential growth again — this time starting from a much higher baseline,” DOH said in a news release.
Hospital admissions of people with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 have remained relatively flat in December after increasing in November to levels not seen previously during the pandemic.
Health officials say the state’s position is tenuous and urge people to maintain COVID-safe protocols, which include mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing.
“If we want to maintain this progress going into the new year, we must take every precaution possible including limiting in-person celebrations to our immediate households,” said Dr. Umair Shah, Washington’s new secretary of health.
As of Thursday, approximately one-tenth of 1% of U.S. citizens (328,000) have died from COVID-19, according to statistics provided by Johns Hopkins University.
This story was originally published December 24, 2020 at 12:14 PM.
