Washington Reports 578 Coronavirus Cases, Death Toll On Hold

SEATTLE — The Washington State Department of Health reported 578 new confirmed coronavirus cases Saturday.

Saturday's update included zero new deaths, though that is by design: Friday DOH officials announced they would no longer be updating coronavirus deaths over the weekend.

It's unclear what prompted the change, but officials say that all deaths on Saturdays and Sundays will instead be accounted for on the following Mondays or Tuesdays, so residents can expect to see elevated death tolls early in the week going forward.

Also of note in Saturday's report is an apparent jump in cases in Whitman County. The DOH says an ongoing issue had caused the county to underreport cases and case rates. That issue has been resolved and the many cases first reported Saturday may have actually happened over a period of weeks.

The latest update means that 73,879 total coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Washington since the pandemic began, and 1905 deaths have been reported. A total of 1,447,460 coronavirus tests have been performed, meaning around 2.6 percent of tests come back positive.

Total coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths by county:

The above numbers are provided by the state Department of Health, and some numbers differ from the totals provided separately by county health agencies.