A new Health Officer directive strongly urges people in King County to wear face coverings in public places, both indoors in places such as grocery stores and businesses, and also outdoors when it’s difficult to maintain six feet apart from others.
While face coverings do not replace proper hygiene or social distancing as protection measures, they can help to protect others and slow community spread of COVID-19 by blocking infectious droplets from spreading when someone with the infection coughs, sneezes or speaks.
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, May 10, there were 7,115 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in King County, 69 more than the previous day. There have been 505 confirmed deaths in King County due to COVID-19, 7.1% of all confirmed cases.
The numbers that Public Health reports each day include delayed results from previous days.
Observations
The three graphs below chart new cases, total case count and the logarithmic trajectory of cases.
The first graph shows new cases (blue bars) and the 7-day average (red line). Of the 69 cases reported today, 49 were confirmed yesterday and the remaining 20 were confirmed in previous days. The 7-day average of new cases per day peaked at 191 on April 1. The average for the last 7 days has declined to 67 new cases per day, the same level as on March 17.
The second graph shows the total case count. With 7,115 total cases as of 11:59 pm yesterday, the compound daily growth rate during the last 7 days has been 1.0%, slightly less than the 1.3% rate during the prior 7 days. If we start with 7,115 cases, a 1.0% compound daily growth rate (0.983% to be precise) yields 70 new cases in a day, 504 new cases in a week, and 2,242 new cases in four weeks.
The third graph below 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