Here are the latest COVID-19 case numbers confirmed Thursday in Washington state
The Washington state Department of Health reported 1,117 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday and 13 deaths.
Pierce County reported 116 cases Thursday and two new deaths. Pierce County has a total of 502 deaths likely caused by COVID-19, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 358,606 cases and 5,213 deaths. Those numbers are up from 357,489 cases 5,200 deaths Wednesday. The case total includes 22,059 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 6, the date with the most recent complete data, 18 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 mid-March.
Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,224) approximately 78.6% (962) were occupied by patients Wednesday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 11.4% (139) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.
Case rates
For the past seven days, Washington has had a slowly increasing case rate of 72.1 per 100,000 people. Fourteen states were lower.
The national rate for the same period was 120 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New Jersey has the highest rate in the United States at 327. Hawaii is the lowest at 35.7.
Vaccine
According to CDC, 3.1 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, 173 million doses have been distributed and 133 million shots of the approved vaccines have been given, according to CDC statistics.
As of Thursday, 18.3% of the adult U.S. population has been fully vaccinated.
Testing
On March 6, the most recent date with confirmed testing data, 10,526 specimens were collected statewide, with 3.6% testing positive.
The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was a stable 3.3%. 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 88,833 cases and 1,460 deaths. Pierce County is second in cases, with 41,512. Pierce County has the second-highest number of deaths, at 603, 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 30 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 546,352 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.
More than 2.75 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 125 million.
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 5:34 PM.
