COVID numbers set daily record over weekend in Washington state, but cases trending down
The Washington state Department of Health reported 7,802 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday and 32 deaths since Friday.
The state listed 21,055 cases on Saturday — a record high. It saw 18,066 cases on Sunday and 17,280 cases on Monday.
As of Tuesday, statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus were 1,105,622 cases and 10,230 deaths. The case total included 134,200 infections listed as probable.
Overwhelmed with data, the state said it could not estimate on Tuesday the number of duplicate cases. The state revises preliminary data on a daily basis until it’s considered confirmed.
Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.7 million, according to the latest U.S. Census figures.
Hospitalization
From Jan. 6-12, the most recent period with complete data, 28.1 percent of staffed intensive care unit (ICU) beds in Washington were occupied by COVID-19 patients. Preliminary data showed that number climbing to 30.5 percent through Monday.
Acute care hospitals in Washington reported a total of 2,246 COVID-19 patients occupying beds Monday with 156 on ventilators.
Case rates
For the past seven days, Washington has had a downward trending case rate of 824 per 100,000 people.
The national rate for the same period was 1,478 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Vaccine
According to DOH, 63.2 percent of the total state population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
On the national level, 63 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated, according to CDC statistics.
U.S. and world numbers
There have been more than 67.1 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 853,536 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest total number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.
More than 5.55 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 332 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 18, 2022 at 6:12 PM.
