August county COVID cases highest month to date, topping 1,350

September’s start matched August’s end for increasing new coronavirus cases in Skagit County, with 394 new cases Aug. 30-Sept. 3, a 10% increase from Aug. 23-27. There were 10 new COVID-19 patient hospitalizations Sept. 1 alone, and 16 for the week, matching the prior week’s total.

The county case rate is 505.9 per 100,000 residents over the last 14 days with a hospitalization rate of 16.9 COVID-19 patients per 100,000 residents over the seven day period through Sept. 2.

August saw 87 COVID-19 patient hospitalizations, 3.3 times the 26 in July and 4.6 as many as the 19 in June. Seven people died from COVID-19 in the county in August after three deaths were reported in July.

The 1,353 new August cases are 25% greater than the 1,082 recorded in December, the second highest case count.

The Skagit Public Health Department started testing at the county fairgrounds Aug 30. One hundred two people tested positive, a 12% rate, of the 841 antigen tests given. Positive results ranged from 10.5% to 13% with an average of 210 tests Aug. 30-Sept. 2. Positive test rates were higher Sept. 1-2 as total tests given declined by over 10%.

Skagit County continues to report much higher rates of COVID-19 new hospitalizations and higher rates of new coronavirus cases, both per 100,000 residents among it neighboring counties.

County staff gave 115 vaccine doses at the fairgrounds Aug. 30-Sept. 1. No correlation was made of how many of the 739 people who test negative got vaccinated, but 13.7% of people seen got shots.

Skagit County reported 7,877 cases (PCR and antigen-positive), 461 hospitalizations and 86 deaths from the coronavirus through Sept. 3.

The Washington state Department of Health reported 512,162 confirmed cases and 6,643 COVID-19 deaths through Sept. 1.