Today in public health updates, Seattle & King County Public Health announces 112 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among people living homeless or working in homeless services sites. This includes two confirmed deaths. In addition, there was a death of a resident at King County’s Kent isolation and quarantine facility, which will be investigated by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. For the full article and report, visit the Public Health Insider.
Otherwise, this daily synthesis of the Public Health data is provided by Will Daugherty of Pacific Science Center. Thanks Will!
Public Health has updated the data dashboard. As of 11:59 pm yesterday, April 18, there were 5,293 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in King County, 121 more than the previous day. There have been 360 confirmed deaths in King County due to COVID-19, 6.8% of all confirmed cases.
The numbers that Public Health reports each day include delayed results from previous days.
Observations
The first graph below shows new cases (blue bars) and the 7-day average (red line). Of the 121 new cases reported today, 68 were confirmed yesterday and the remaining 53 were confirmed in previous days but reported to Public Health in the last day. We see a definite flattening of the curve with the 7-day average continuing to decline since April 1. The trailing 7-day average is 97 new cases per day, at the same level as it was March 21-22, right before Governor Inslee issued the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order on March 23.
The second graph below shows the total case count. With 5,293 total cases as of 11:59 pm yesterday, the compound daily growth rate during the last 7 days has been 2.0%, less than the 3.2% rate during the prior 7 days. At a 2.0% compound daily growth rate, the number of cases doubles every 35.4 days. One week ago, cases were doubling every 22.0 days. Two weeks ago, cases were doubling every 12.2 days. Three weeks ago, cases were doubling every 7.0 days.
The third graph below shows the trajectory of cases in King County with the total number of cases on the horizontal axis and the new cases on the vertical axis. Each axis is on a logarithmic scale. Each blue dot represents a daily report. The dot farthest to the left is the February 28 report. Time passes from left to right as the total case count grows. The dot farthest to the right is today’s daily report. We can see a clear change in the trajectory since March 28, shortly after Governor Inslee’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order on March 23.
Will Daugherty welcomes your questions and comments. His email is wdaugherty@pacsci.org