Slight decrease in cases, but COVID-19 spread in Kitsap 'widespread and rampant'
Washington state reported far fewer coronavirus cases in the week ending Sunday, adding 9,949 new cases. That's down 32.7% from the previous week's tally of 14,784 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Washington ranked 22nd among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week, coronavirus cases in the United States increased 33.2% from the week before, with 501,037 cases reported. With 2.29% of the country's population, Washington had 1.99% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 43 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
Kitsap County reported 327 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 478 cases and one death. Throughout the pandemic, it has reported 40,671 cases and 338 deaths.
Mason County reported 35 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 73 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic, it has reported 12,503 cases and 139 deaths.
During an update to Kitsap’s board of health on May 3, health officer Dr. Gib Morrow estimated that only about 15% of cases are being reported, meaning the case counts that are publicly reported only give a small slice of data on local virus spread. Data reported by the health district showed an uptick in reported cases over the month of April.
The good news, Morrow said, is that cases don’t appear to be as serious, noting that while hospitalizations have ticked up regionally, intensive care unit admissions and deaths don't appear to be climbing as well.
“COVID transmission is pretty widespread and pretty rampant,” he said. “Frankly, at this point, we’d be about two-thirds the way up the omicron wave if we were capturing all the cases. Just a lot of disease transmission right now.”
Across Washington state in the week ending Sunday, cases fell in 33 counties, with the best declines in King County, with 4,705 cases from 6,889 a week earlier; in Snohomish County, with 1,277 cases from 1,885; and in Pierce County, with 877 cases from 1,247.
>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases
Washington state ranked 17th among states in the share of people receiving at least one shot, with 80.8% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 77.7%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.
In the week ending Wednesday, Washington state reported administering another 79,349 vaccine doses, including 7,391 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 82,108 vaccine doses, including 7,863 first doses. In all, Washington state reported it has administered 14,489,516 total doses.
Within Washington state, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in San Juan County with 233 cases per 100,000 per week; King County with 209; and Snohomish County with 155. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.
Adding the most new cases overall were King County, with 4,705 cases; Snohomish County, with 1,277 cases; and Pierce County, with 877. Weekly case counts rose in five counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in San Juan, Douglas and Wahkiakum counties.
In Washington, 13 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 46 people were reported dead.
A total of 1,508,065 people in Washington have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 12,716 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 81,863,725 people have tested positive and 997,526 people have died.
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Washington's COVID-19 hospital admissions falling
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, May 8.
Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:
Last week: 1,198
The week before that: 1,664
Four weeks ago: 1,554
Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:
Last week: 45,875
The week before that: 42,092
Four weeks ago: 37,354
Hospitalizations among Kitsap residents have also ticked up, according to Kitsap Public Health, which also pointed out that they remain low compared with the peak of the omicron surge. Thirteen hospitalizations were reported among Kitsap County residents in the latest week, compared with a high of 76 in January.
Hospitals in 36 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 32 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 35 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.
Kitsap Sun reporter Nathan Pilling contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Kitsap County reported 327 additional COVID-19 cases this week
