Washington COVID-19 Update

Washington COVID-19 Update

As summer heads into the final month, we are seeing an increase in the number of COPVID-19 cases around the state.  Below you will find some resources that you can use to track what is happening in Washington.

The Washington State Hospital Association has the following Coronavirus tracker.  This tracker shows the number of cases and the number of deaths in the state by county.  It also has a chart at the bottom that shows how many new cases per day.  Dark blue represents 0 per day and dark red represents 500 or more per day.  As you can see, for the months of July and August it is dark red meaning that cases are climbing dramatically.

 

The second resource is the Washington State COVID-19 – risk assessment dashboard.  This shows what phase each county is in as well as how they are doing on the metrics.  You can also use this to see how many cases per 100k residents.  For the Safe Start reopening/visitation, this, in part, determines when your facility can move into a the next phase.  for example, to be eligible for phase 2 there must be moderate transmission occurring in the community.  Moderate transmission is defined as 25-75 case per 100k residents for two weeks.

 

The third resource is the Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM) Situation Report (SitRep).  This SitRep contains graphs that show the spread of COVID-19 across the state.  Some of the graphs are broken out by western and eastern Washington.  The graph below shows the increase in cases among all age groups, with the 0-39 age group flattening some.

This graph below is derived from data that DSHS has been collecting regarding the number of long term care facilities (adult family home, assisted living, and nursing home) in the State with at least one confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19.  The steep drop in the middle of May happened when DSHS opened their online reporting tool.  Previously DSHS was relying on reports from state staff or facilities to call into the hotline to report that they no longer had any positive cases in their building.  So the high number of 73.5% for nursing homes is likely higher than the actual number of facilities with a case at that particular time.  The rise, beginning on 6/12/2020, combined with reports from various counties of facilities having a second outbreak, shows that community transmission is being brought into facilities.  On a phone call with RCS last week, we were told that the Complaint Resolution Unit hotline was receiving, on average, 30 calls a day from long term care facilities reporting new cases.

We share these resources and charts with you so that you can be aware that there is transmission of the virus happening in the communities that you serve.  We encourage you to work with staff to educate them on the rise in community transmission.  Help them to be aware that the only way the virus makes it into your building, is if someone brings it in.  We recommend that you encourage your staff to maintain mask wearing in all public places and practice social distancing.  We also recommend that in your own facilities, masks should be worn and social distancing should be practiced in break areas and lunch rooms.

Please reach out if you have any concerns or questions.  Thank you.

 

David Carter | Director, Health Care Finance & Policy

C 360.888.5702

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