Health officials in Washington are warning that the coronavirus is spreading more widely throughout the state, an increase likely driven by transmissions that took place over Memorial Day weekend.
In a report issued Saturday, the Washington State Department of Health pointed to two distinct hot spots, both of which are showing worrying signs of increased spreading.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases are rising fastest in four counties east of the Cascade Mountains, mostly rural and agricultural areas that were spared from the first substantial outbreak in Washington.
Both cases and the rate at which tests are coming back positive are increasing in Yakima, Spokane, Franklin and Benton counties. Projections in three of those counties show they are at risk of recording hundreds of new cases a day by the end of the month; Yakima County is already recording cases at that rapid rate.
The outbreaks east of the Cascades are now comparable to the worst days of the coronavirus epidemic in King County, home to Seattle, in mid-March. Though they are much more sparsely populated, there are as many cases per capita now in the eastern counties as there were in Seattle during the height of its outbreak.
King County has a population 2.25 million and has recorded 8,611 coronavirus cases, according to state health department figures, or a little under four cases per 1,000 residents. Yakima County, population 250,000, has recorded 5,129 confirmed cases, a per capita ratio five times higher than King County.
The state health department also said it was concerned about a growing number of cases confirmed in western Washington. Models maintained by epidemiologists at the University of Washington show the estimated reproductive threshold — the average number of people someone infected with the virus infects — rising above the 1.0 threshold needed to keep cases on the decline.
Washington, the state that suffered the first confirmed coronavirus case back in January, is now beginning to reopen its economy. In a statement Saturday, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said the new report was cause for concern.
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Any new cases among protesters probably have not had time to manifest in substantial ways yet and likely would not show up for at least another week.
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Washington State sounds alarm over rising coronavirus cases https://t.co/vtd1ttP1o5 pic.twitter.com/6tpHhgumA0
— The Hill (@thehill) June 14, 2020
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