A mural in Seattle. (SDOT, Flickr Creative Commons)
Washington recently received some good news, with the latest update from the Department of Health indicating that the state’s COVID-19 outbreak is starting to trend in the right direction.
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“The flattening of new business counts is being observed in virtually every county,” read the latest DOH report, done in tandem with Bellevue’s Institute for Disease Modeling and Fred Hutchinson.
The reproductive number, the number of people who would probably infect one person with the virus, is now below 1.0 (both Eastern (0.98) and Western Washington (0.97)). In general, getting the number below 1.0 is the sign of an outbreak that is starting to come under control. The exception to this progress is in Spokane, where new cases “are now on the rise again due to a sharp uptick in older age groups.”
In terms of how Washington has managed to mitigate its outbreak, the DOH attributes this to “statewide policy changes”, including mask mandates and stopping reopening times for counties during breaks.
Despite recent improvements, however, Washington’s success in controlling the spread of the virus remains tiring.
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“While a number of trends are moving in the right direction, Washington is not out of the woods,” the DOH notes. “It is imperative that we continue to complete with masking and distancing policies that have likely helped us get out of the uncontrolled outbreak situation we were in just three weeks ago.”
Until a vaccine can be produced and distributed, officials warn that “along with the virus, it will require ongoing mitigation measures, and recognition that return to normal will not be possible in all activity spheres.”
As of Monday morning, Washington had 67,461 total COVID-19 cases, along with 1,781 deaths. The last spike in new cases began in early July, before beginning to trend downwards again in early August.
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