Skagit County has highest new COVID-19 infection rate in state

Skagit County has passed a rate of 600 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents in the 14 day period ending Nov. 5, the highest in the state. The seven day death rate is 0.8 for the period ending Nov. 5. That is calculated from the number of dead, 115, per the total number of cases in the county, 11,696 confirmed and probable cases. Spokane County has a 0.2 death rate; King and Snohomish counties have 0.1 death rates. No other county approaches a 0.1 death rate.

The county’s 1,797 total cases in October averages 58 cases per day. That is ten times the 5.8 average daily new coronavirus cases in Skagit county in July, when the month totaled 181 new cases in the county.

Since Sept. 13 there have been over 400 new cases weekly five times including the last three weeks. The graph below tracks the number of Skagit County residents with new coronavirus infections since July.

Total new cases averaged 459 weekly the last two weeks of October. There were 426 total new cases Nov. 1-5.

Last week, Nov. 1-5, 26 county residents were hospitalized from COVID-19. That is a greater daily rate than the 84 new coronavirus related October hospitalizations.

Thirteen people died from COVID-19 in October. Five more died the week of Nov. 1-5. All data are from the Washington Department of Health listed on Skagit Public Health’s website.

The DOH, in an Oct. 21 COVID-19 modeling and surveillance situation report, noted “hospitals across the state are operating at full capacity, and projections suggest high levels of occupancy are likely to continue through the fall months.”

Skagit Public Health summarized that “record case highs, (are) higher than anything we’ve seen throughout the entirety of this pandemic.” They note “approximately 90% of all cases are in unvaccinated individuals. The best way to get our numbers down is by increasing the number of Skagitonians getting vaccinated. Second to this would be masking up when in public, keeping distance and washing hands frequently.”

The Skagit County Fairgrounds testing and vaccine site is open weekdays except Wednesdays, 3-7 p.m. Because it will be closed on Veterans Day, Nov. 11 and Nov. 25-26 for Thanksgiving, it will be open on Wednesdays, Nov. 10 and 24.

The pediatric Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is now available at its fairgrounds site, Skagit Public Health announced last week.

The last week of October and first week of November an average of 241 antigen coronavirus tests were given daily at the county’s fairgrounds test site.