Public Health created a new set of data tools that show some of the broader impacts in social, economic, and overall health and well-being in King County during COVID-19. Key topics include unemployment, housing and food needs, internet access, family violence, depression, and having health insurance. Highlights are visible at a glance on a new data dashboard (click on any individual data point to get additional information).
Further details are all available in today’s update on 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, May 19, there were 7,617 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in King County, 35 more than the previous day. There have been 530 confirmed deaths in King County due to COVID-19, 7.0% of all confirmed cases. The numbers that Public Health reports each day include delayed results from previous days.
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). 38 new cases were confirmed yesterday. Totals for previous days decreased by 3 cases due to data adjustments by Public Health. The 7-day average of new cases per day peaked at 193 on April 1 (higher than in prior reports due to data adjustments by Public Health). The average for the last 7 days is now 54 new cases per day, the lowest since March 13.
The second graph shows the total case count. With 7,617 total cases as of 11:59 pm yesterday, the compound daily growth rate during the last 7 days has been 0.7%, slightly less than the 0.9% rate during the prior 7 days. While 0.7% is a very low daily rate of growth, a 0.7% growth rate (0.732% to be precise) times 7,617 total cases yields 56 new cases in a day. This is why the red line in the first graph is taking so long to go down. With 7,617 cases, the daily growth rate must be less than 0.131% in order for the number of new cases per day to be less than 10. 0.131% is slightly more than 1/6 of 0.732%. For reference, it took 40 days for the trailing 7-day daily growth rate to fall by that amount from 4.2% on April 9 to 0.7% now.
The third graph 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