A chart of cases per 100,000, broken out into two-week periods, through Oct. 31.
SNOHOMISH COUNTY — COVID-19’s spread in the community has crept back up, capping a rough October in the fight against the coronavirus.
Last week, there were more than 350 new positive infection cases logged in Snohomish County, which is a jump in activity versus August and September and more like the case numbers logged during the first weeks of the pandemic.
County officials are warning that this is a critical moment for controlling the trend.
The county’s health officer says people need to be risk-averse and conscientious about gathering this fall. “We need to think about: What do my actions do for the community?” Dr. Chris Spitters said during an Oct. 29 meeting.
Colder weather is bringing more people together inside, which factors into spreading the virus around, Spitters said.
People are questioning if state health authorities might drop the county down to Phase 1 of the governor’s Safe Start restrictions to attempt to head off the spread. The County Executive indicated Oct. 29 that he has no information suggesting the state will.
“We are in daily contact with the Governor’s office, and there has been no discussions we are aware of to go back to Phase 1,” Somers said, but cautioned that hospitalization rates caused by COVID-19 need to stay low to avoid it.
The percent of people who test for COVID-19 who turn up positive also has swung unfavorably, from the most recent state data from mid-October. A positive case is happening to one out of every 16th person tested, up from one out of every 25 at the start of October. Data charts haven’t shown a ratio this high since May when cases were declining from the early surge.
And, more Snohomish County residents were getting tested in October compared to during September. The higher percentage of positive cases may mean the virus is being more widely carried in the population. More than 8,000 people were tested each week during October. Predominantly most are negative.
For comparison, in springtime before the state fundamentally shut down, 1 in 10 tested in Snohomish County came back positive.
A county tracking map for the virus showed south Everett, Marysville and Monroe as three hotspots for new cases. A Monroe long-term care facility in October had an outbreak that surfaced around 50 new COVID-19 cases, Spitters said.
“There is no substantially populated area that is low-risk,” Spitters said Oct. 29.
Adults ages 20 to 49 represent the largest group of new cases. However, infections among older populations are growing as well as hospitalizations, Somers said during an Oct. 27 weekly conference.
“There’s no time like the present to try to turn it around,” Spitters said during an Oct. 27 weekly conference with reporters. “The sooner we do that, the greater our chance of avoiding a hospital surge.”
Shortly since moving up a phase on June 5, the county hasn’t met most of the governor’s metrics for keeping a county in Phase 2. These metrics include having less than 25 new cases per 100,000, and not having more than 2 percent of the population come up positive for COVID-19 when they are tested.
Hospitalizations by COVID-19 cases is the one metric it’s stayed under the state requirement. As of Oct. 29, people suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 were using 25 of the
county’s 908 hospital beds, Spitters said; in mid-October, the number reached as high as 30 hospitalizations.
During September, this figure hovered around 15 hospitalizations.
As of press time, Halloween will be an unknown effect on case counts.
Beyond face masks, Spitters suggested to not enter crowded shops, and to not gather with many people from outside your personal household — and this includes family members who live in other houses.
What if we go to Phase 1?
The state’s Phase 1 restrictions aren’t as stringent as the early months of the pandemic. Rule modifications made over the summer allow restaurants, barbershops, nail salons, and other grooming services to be open, but with much fewer customers at a time. Retailers would also be allowed to have customers, but capping store capacities by less than half the people allowed in to shop.
