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 26 cases per 100,000 residents over a two-week span as of March 31.

The rate was at 48 the previous week, 79 the week before that week on March 17, 123 the week before, and much higher, 1,458, on Feb. 11.

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.

Two additional deaths are pending review, according to GCHD’s March 31 update.

The Grand Coulee and Electric City area of the county has shown one more additional case in recent weeks, with a total of 294 cases since the pandemic started.

Okanogan County Public Health last updated their data on March 30 and shows a two-week incidence rate of 81, under 100 for the first time. It’s down from 153 the week before and 359 the week before that, with 35 cases reported in the previous two weeks.

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

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 1,458,424 confirmed cases as of 11:59 p.m. on April 4. There have been 12,515 COVID-19 deaths in Washington as well as 59,333 hospitalizations.