COVID-19 rates continue to decline in local counties

COVID-19 rates continue to decline overall as the incidence rate in Grant County had dropped to 48 cases per 100,000 residents over a two-week span as of March 23.

The rate was at 79 the previous week on March 17, 123 the week before, and much higher, 1,458 on Feb. 11.

The Washington State Department of Health shows a seven-day case rate for the county of 40 as of March 28.

That said, an additional death was announced in Grant County Health District’s weekly update on March 23, that of an unvaccinated man in his 60s from Moses Lake who had an underlying health condition, bringing the county’s covid death total to 257 since the pandemic began.

The Grand Coulee and Electric City area of Grant County has shown no additional cases since the previous week, with a total of 293 cases since the pandemic started.

Okanogan County Public Health last updated their data on March 22 and shows a two-week incidence rate of 153, down from 359 the week before, with 155 cases reported in the previous two weeks.

They show Coulee Dam, Elmer City, and Nespelem as having no additional cases in the previous week.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every county in Washington as of March 17 is now considered to be at low risk for overwhelming hospitals with covid cases.

The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) reported a total of 1,453,251 confirmed cases as of 11:59 p.m. on March 27. There have been 12,454 COVID-19 deaths in Washington.

According to the World Health Organization, as of March 29, there have been 481,756,671 cases of covid worldwide, and 6,127,981 deaths.

Meanwhile in Shanghai, China, with a population of 26 million people, the city has begun “its most extensive coronavirus lockdown in two years to conduct mass testing and control a growing outbreak,” according to the Associated Press.