Federal COVID-19 Data Shows Washington On Road To Improvement

OLYMPIA, WA — Washington is making progress containing the pandemic, according to the federal government's latest COVID-19 report.

The report in question, the White House's COVID-19 State Profile Report, is a weekly analysis of how each state is handling the pandemic.

Under the previous administration, the White House COVID-19 Team compiled weekly reports tracking pandemic growth in each state. But the reports were kept private until recently, when the Biden administration announced that the data would be made publicly available.

Here's a look at how Washington fared on its latest State Profile Report.
Note that, while the report was first released Tuesday, the data below represents cases from the 7-day week ending Sunday, Feb 7.

In short, the answer is: Washington is getting better, barring a few minor hiccups.

The report shows that Washington saw a total of 9,570 COVID-19 cases last week, a rate of 126 cases per every 100,000 residents. That's still high, but less than half the national average of 263 cases per 100,000 Americans. It's also 17 percent fewer cases than Washington saw the prior week.

Also down is the test positivity rate, which dipped 0.6 percent to 6.1 percent positive. The state has set a goal of 2 percent positivity or less, so while there is some distance to go, it is a move in the right direction.

Other good signs: there were 17 percent fewer hospital admissions for COVID-19, and 7 percent fewer hospitals are reporting supply shortages.

Vaccination data shows that 9.3 percent of Washingtonians have received their first dose of the vaccine, and 2.4 percent have gotten their second shot.

Where Washington stumbles is in coronavirus testing. The state performed just 1,009 COVID-19 tests per every 100,000 residents last week. That's nearly a third of the national average, and 15 percent fewer tests than the week before. While that is a problem for the state, the overall picture the federal report paints is a rosy one, a sign that Washington continues to improve.

Despite the improvements, local health officials continue to warn: this isn't the time to relax. Washington may be trending in the right direction, but case counts remain higher than they ever were before this winter surge. Plus, a new, faster spreading, and more contagious variant of the coronavirus was recently confirmed in Washington.

And there are other reasons to remain skeptical as well. It's worth remembering it takes about two weeks before surges or changes in transmission rates show up in data. It's only been one full week since 7 Washington counties entered Phase 2 of the governor's Healthy Washington plan - which reopened many businesses and removed indoor dining restrictions.

While the state designed the phases to avoid any increases in transmission, it will be another week before we know for sure what impact, if any, that change caused.

All 52 profile reports for all 50 states and Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. can be found here. They are updated weekly.