Washington state’s COVID-19 deaths break 5,000 mark on Wednesday
More than 5,000 people in Washington state have now died from COVID-19 as the state Department of Health reported 799 new cases of the disease and 24 new deaths Wednesday.
Pierce County reported 64 cases Wednesday and one new death. Pierce County has a total of 467 deaths likely caused by COVID-19, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 342,236 cases and 5,012 deaths. Those numbers are up from 341,437 cases and 4,988 deaths Tuesday. The case total includes 19,113 cases listed as probable. DOH revises previous case and death counts daily.
Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.
Hospitalizations
As of Feb. 12, the date with the most recent complete data, 53 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.
Preliminary reports indicate that average daily hospital admissions were trending downward to 43 in late-February.
Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,201), approximately 79.1% (950) were occupied by patients Tuesday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 10.1% (121) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.
Case rates
For the past seven days, Washington had a stable case rate of 10.8 per 100,000 people. Four states were lower.
The national rate for the same period was 19.3 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New Jersey has the highest rate in the United States at 37.8. Hawaii is the lowest at 3.3.
Vaccine
According to CDC, 1.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Washington.
As of Monday, more than 2.2 million doses had been delivered to the state.
Currently approved vaccines require two shots for maximum effectiveness.
Washington state is in phase 1B tier 1 of vaccinations. That phase adds anyone 65 and older and people 50 and older living in multigenerational households.
On the national level, 107 million doses have been distributed and 80.5 million shots of the approved vaccines have been given, according to CDC statistics. The population of the United States is approximately 328 million.
Testing
On Feb. 12, the most recent date with confirmed testing data, 16,320 specimens were collected statewide, with a downward-trending 4.3% testing positive.
The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 4%. More than 5.3 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.
County numbers
According to DOH data, King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 84,488 cases and 1,406 deaths. Pierce County is second in cases, with 38,611. Spokane County has the second-highest number of deaths, at 570.
All counties in Washington have cases. Only 12 of the state’s 39 counties have case counts of fewer than 1,000.
U.S. and world numbers
There have been more than 28.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 519,039 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Wednesday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.
More than 2.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 115 million.
