Coronavirus

Here are the latest COVID-19 case numbers confirmed Monday in Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 577 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and nine deaths since Friday.

Pierce County reported 79 cases Monday and no new deaths. Pierce County has a total of 499 deaths likely caused by COVID-19, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 355,986 cases and 5,183 deaths. Those numbers are up from 355,409 cases Sunday and 5,174 deaths Friday. The case total includes 21,594 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 March 3, the date with the most recent complete data, 42 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.

Preliminary reports indicate average daily hospital admissions were stable at 34 in early March.

Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,237) approximately 76.2% (943) were occupied by patients Sunday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 7.6% (94) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.

Case rates

For the past seven days, Washington had a case rate of 70.3 per 100,000 people. Thirteen states were lower.

The national rate for the same period was 114 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

New Jersey has the highest rate in the United States at 313. Hawaii is the lowest at 34.6.

Vaccine

According to CDC, 3.04 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Washington.

Washington state is in phase 1B tier 2 of vaccinations.

On the national level, 156 million doses have been distributed and 126 million shots of the approved vaccines have been given, according to CDC statistics.

As of Monday, 17.4% of the adult U.S. population has been fully vaccinated.

Testing

On March 3, the most recent date with confirmed testing data, 19,931 specimens were collected statewide, with 3% testing positive.

The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was a stable 3.4%. More than 5.7 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 88,021 cases and 1,451 deaths. Pierce County is second in cases, with 41,089. Pierce County has the second-highest number of deaths, at 597, according to DOH, which counts deaths differently than the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.

All counties in Washington have at least 100 cases. Only 11 of the state’s 39 counties have case counts of fewer than 1,000.

U.S. and world numbers

There have been more than 29.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 542,882 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Monday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.

More than 2.72 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 123 million.

This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 7:25 PM.

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Craig Sailor
The News Tribune
Craig Sailor has worked for The News Tribune since 1998 as a writer, editor and photographer. He previously worked at The Olympian and at other newspapers in Nevada and California. He has a degree in journalism from San Jose State University.
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