School-related COVID-19 outbreaks in Washington state reach 182 after case surge
Washington state saw a total of 29 COVID-19 outbreaks with ties to K-12 schools in March, bringing the number of outbreaks occurring between August and March to a total of 182, according to an updated report released by the Department of Health on Friday.
The 182 outbreaks involve 708 individual COVID-19 cases.
Pierce County data also appeared on the report for the first time. The county contributed 26 of the outbreaks since August. The data had been missing from the report due to a three-month lag in updating the Washington Disease Reporting System, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department (TPCHD).
A DOH spokesperson told The News Tribune in April it was aware of TPCHD entering outbreak data that had not been logged for the past few months. The Washington Disease Reporting System was fully updated by TPCHD on April 16.
Pierce County had the second-highest number of outbreaks, stemming from 61 individual cases. Spokane County has seen the most with 38 school-related COVID-19 outbreaks involving 185 cases. King County is third with 24 outbreaks involving 105 cases.
The Department of Health defines an outbreak as two or more laboratory‐positive (PCR or antigen) COVID‐19 cases among students or staff that have a symptom onset within a 14‐day period of each other, are “epidemiologically linked” (the patients had contact with one or more persons with COVID-19), the cases do not share a household, and the cases are not identified as close contacts of each other in another setting.
The updated report reflects the buildup to Washington’s current battle against a fourth wave of the virus.
Compared to 29 new outbreaks in March, February had 11 school-related outbreaks. The highest recorded number of school outbreaks since the report started in August was November at 44 outbreaks, amid the state’s third wave.
Among the 182 K-12 schools that experienced a COVID-19 outbreak, 26 percent were private, and 74 percent were public.
Of the 708 COVID-19 cases, the median age was 17 years. Patients for 47 percent of the COVID-19 cases were non-Hispanic white and 39 percent were listed as unknown. A majority — 59 percent — of the patients were female. Less than 10 COVID-19 cases were hospitalized overnight, and there were zero reported deaths.
This story was originally published May 2, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
