Washington state reports more than 400 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday
The Washington state Department of Health reported 455 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and 22 deaths from the disease since Friday.
Pierce County reported 54 new COVID-19 cases Monday and one new death. Pierce County has a total of 36,979 cases and 474 deaths, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 345,731 cases and 5,063 deaths. Those numbers are up from 344,532 cases and 5,041 deaths Friday. The case total includes 19,800 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. 16, the date with the most recent complete data, 50 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.
Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,221), approximately 78% (956) were occupied by patients as of March 4. Of those staffed ICU beds, 8% (98) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.
Vaccine
According to CDC, 2.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Washington.
As of Monday, more than 2.65 million doses had been delivered to the state.
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. Recently added were child care workers, along with educators and staff working pre-K through 12th grade.
On the national level, 116 million doses have been distributed and 92 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. 15, the most recent date with confirmed testing data, 15,471 specimens were collected statewide, with a downward-trending 3.6% testing positive.
The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 3.8%. 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 85,282 cases and 1,425 deaths. Pierce County is second in cases. Spokane County has the second-highest number of deaths, at 576.
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 29 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 525,701 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Monday, 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 117 million.
This story was originally published March 8, 2021 at 6:11 PM.
