Today, Public Health provided several updates, including information about a recent report by the Bellevue-based Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM). Their research reinforces the need for continued social distancing, and shows that transmission needs to be reduced further before partial relaxation of restrictions should be considered. Check out the article on Public Health insider here.
In addition, Public Health put out several updates in a second post on Public Health Insider, outlining free testing to staff at the Maleng Regional Justice Center, free child care for first responders and essential workers in King County, and details on the newly proposed $57M emergency supplemental budget.
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 24, there were 5,811 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in King County, 122 more than the previous day. There have been 399 confirmed deaths in King County due to COVID-19, 6.9% 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 122 new cases reported today, 64 were confirmed yesterday and the remaining 58 were confirmed in previous days but reported to Public Health in the last day, resulting in restatements of the totals for previous days. The 7-day average has been in decline since April 1. The trailing 7-day average is 88 new cases per day. This is the lowest level it has been since March 20.
The second graph below shows the total case count. With 5,811 total cases as of 11:59 pm yesterday, the compound daily growth rate during the last 7 days has been 1.6%, less than the 2.3% rate during the prior 7 days. At a 1.6% compound daily growth rate, the number of cases doubles every 43.1 days. One week ago, cases were doubling every 30.1 days. Two weeks ago, cases were doubling every 18.3 days. Three weeks ago, cases were doubling every 10.3 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