Sunday saw record COVID cases in Washington state. Rate of COVID patients in ICU rising
COVID-19 continued its record-breaking pace through Washington over the weekend, based on data released by the state Department of Health on Monday. The state recorded 13,689 new cases Monday and 24 new deaths since Friday.
The state reported 14,871 cases on Saturday and 19,150 cases on Sunday — a record high.
As of Monday, statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus were 978,680 cases and 10,028 deaths. The case total included 114,616 infections listed as probable. In addition, the total case count could have as many as 2,500 duplicates that DOH is working to eliminate, it said.
Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.7 million, according to the latest U.S. Census figures.
Hospitalization
From Dec. 29-Jan. 4, the most recent period with complete data, 20 percent of staffed intensive care unit (ICU) beds in Washington were occupied by COVID-19 patients. Preliminary data showed that number climbing to 25 percent through Sunday.
Case rates
For the past seven days, Washington has had a sharply upward trending case rate of 1,076 per 100,000 people.
The national rate for the same period was 1,422 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Vaccine
According to DOH, 63 percent of the total state population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
On the national level, 62.6 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated, according to CDC statistics.
U.S. and world numbers
There have been more than 61.1 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 838,962 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest total number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.
More than 5.49 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 309 million.
Testing
On Sept. 15, DOH stopped updating testing statistics on its website because it was having difficulty processing an increase in data. On Jan. 3, the agency said the halt in updating will continue through February 2022.
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 5:57 PM.
