Federal Data Shows Washington COVID-19 Cases, Deaths Declining

WASHINGTON — It is finally starting to feel like Washington has entered the end stages of the pandemic. Wednesday, Washington entered the next phase of vaccine distribution. Monday, the state will reopen further allowing the return of live sports and other large venues.

And now, new federal data suggests that case counts and deaths are continuing their downward trend.

That's good news for Washington's top health officials, who during last week's COVID-19 briefing expressed concerns about a possible uptick in case counts. The state Department of Health says Washington cannot afford a fourth wave of COVID-19, especially during this critical phase of the vaccine rollout.

While there are still issues to be concerned about — like the recent appearance of three worrying COVID-19 variants in Washington — the White House COVID-19 Team's latest report on Washington shows the state's case counts have continued to dive, dipping 12 percent over the week ending Friday. The death rate also dipped 17 percent in that same time frame.

Both percentages put Washington in a good place compared to the rest of the country: Washington's new case rate is under half the U.S. rate, and the death rate is less than a third the national rate.

One obvious caveat, however, is that Washington is falling behind on testing, performing 30 percent fewer tests last week than it did the week before. Washington has been slipping behind on testing over recent months, and that could potentially skew the data. After all, the state can't log a "confirmed" COVID-19 case if it isn't laboratory tested first.

Despite that, other key metrics unrelated to testing are also trending well, including a 17 percent decrease in COVID-19-related hospital admissions and zero hospitals reporting supply shortages.

As for vaccination efforts, those are also generally on the up-and-up. As of Friday, 20.4 percent of Washingtonians have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 11.5 percent of residents are fully vaccinated.

Ultimately, the White House report rates Washington as one of the best performing states. It wraps by ranking all 50 states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, and found Washington had the 5th lowest case rate, only beat out by Oklahoma, Oregon, Puerto Rico and Hawaii.

That's always welcome news, but state health leaders continue to stress that it doesn't mean we're out of the woods just yet, and they're asking everyone to buckle down and continue following COVID-19 safety precautions while they rush to get high-risk residents vaccinated.

Read the full report from the White House COVID-19 Team.