COVID-19 updates: 25,834 confirmed cases with 1,217 deaths statewide

Health officials say 25,834 people have tested positive for coronavirus statewide, and they report 1,217 deaths. As the state starts to reopen in phases under Gov. Inslee’s Safe Start plan, the majority of the counties are in Phase 2 out of four.

Confirmed coronavirus cases across Washington state

Follow live updates today below.

Sunday, June 14

4:04pm – The state Department of Health reports 25,834 people have tested positive for coronavirus statewide, with 1,217 deaths. The percent positive of all total tests is now 5.6%.

10:58am – The Medium Security Complex at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center has been placed on restricted movement to help contain the spread of COVID-19. At last report, there were 30 confirmed cases among staff and 71 cases among the incarcerated population.

There were 33 individuals in isolation as of June 10, 2020, who have symptoms and are separated from healthy people, while 1,815 are in quarantine, meaning they were exposed but do not have symptoms.

7:10am – Coronavirus infections are still increasing in the state, according to the Washington Department of Health. There have been particularly large increases seen in Benton, Yakima, Spokane, and Franklin counties, but increases across the state are indicated in the latest data from May.

The DOH says six counties — Yakima, Klickitat, Benton, Franklin, Spokane, Stevens —  have not yet reached their peak number of cases.

The results include increases in transmission that occurred over Memorial Day weekend, but not infections that may have occurred due to recent protests. Read more from the AP.

Saturday, June 13

4:00pm – The Washington State Department of Health is reporting a total of 25,538 confirmed COVID-19 cases statewide, with 1,213 deaths. That’s an increase of 367 new cases from Friday’s report. Of a total 450,146 tests, 5.7% are positive results.

12:39pm – Soon you could donate blood inside the Paramount Theater. Bloodworks Northwest and the Seattle Theatre Group are starting a pop-up blood donation center every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for the next month beginning Monday, June 15.

All blood types are needed. These new pop-up centers in theaters will provide a large space, offering more safety for donors and staff.

7:50am – The National Guard has been called in to help process unemployment benefit claims as the Employment Security Department still faces a backlog, partially caused fraudsters. ESD Commissioner Suzi LeVine said Gov. Inslee approved the deployment of troops.The details about how many people will be sent to help and their precise tasks are not yet finalized. Read more from the AP.

6:33am – After being denied a temporary restraining order on Friday by a federal court judge in Spokane, Slidewaters in Chelan plans to reopen in defiance of the stay-home orders. An attorney for the Freedom Foundation, which is representing the water park, said the organization will now seek an injunction.

The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH spoke with Sydney Phillips, who is handling the lawsuit, earlier this week. Read more.

Friday, June 12

5:17pm – Health officials say 439,862 people across the state have been tested for coronavirus, and of those, 25,171 people have tested positive.  That’s a rate of 5.7% positive tests. The state says 1,204 people have died from the virus. That’s 10 more than on Thursday.

3:46pm – The State Department of Health says more time is needed to reach its goal of testing every resident and staff member at nursing homes by Friday, June 12. Today was the date for every nursing home to:

• Offer COVID-19 tests to all residents and administer tests to all consenting residents,
• Require all staff to be tested for COVID-19 and administer tests to all staff, except those who declined with medical justification,
• Contact DOH for assistance if unable to test,
• Ensure timely and proper submission of test specimens to authorized laboratories, and
• Immediately report positive test results.

The state says inconsistent supplies remains the issue, but progress is being made. DOH says 187 facilities have either completed or received testing supplies or have been shipped testing supplies. The state says it is waiting to get “number confirmation and needs from 22 facilities. Some of these 22 may have already tested.”

3:19pm – Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit against a Redmond business on Friday and the owners for advertising a COVID-19 “vaccine.” Ferguson’s office said it sent a cease and desist letter to North Coast Biologics, and its owner, Johnny T. Stine a month ago. Ferguson said Stine sold the vaccine to about 30 people for $400 each.

1:30pm – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to tell employers that antibody tests for COVID-19 should not be used to determine if someone can return to work. “There is not enough information yet to say whether someone will be immune and protected from reinfection if they have antibodies to the virus,” the CDC tweeted. Read more.

11:18am – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted a long-awaited guidance about how to reduce risk of coronavirus infection for Americans who are attempting some semblance of normal life. It also posted a second set of guidelines for organizing and attending big gatherings such as concerts, sporting events, protests and political rallies. Read more. 

10:17am – The Cascade Mall in Burlington will close its doors at the end of June. In a statement emailed to the Skagit Valley Herald, the mall cites the permanent shutdown on “closure of anchor department stores including JC Penney, Sears and Macy’s, and the added financial impact of COVID-19 on tenants as well as ownership”. The mall opened in 1989 and made national headlines in 2016 when five people were killed in a shooting there.

5:31am – As part of his supplemental budget proposal, King County Executive Dow Constantine unveiled a program to purchase 25 million cloth face coverings “to help reopen businesses across the county.”

The proposal totals $70.4 million, and would include investments in health, food security, face coverings, and hand sanitizer for residents and businesses.

Thursday, June 11

6:03pm – There are 24,779 total confirmed coronavirus cases with 1,194 deaths in Washington, as reported by the state Department of Health. Of the 425,212 total tests, 5.8% have been positive.

5:08pm – Skamania County has been approved to move into Phase 3 of the Safe Start plan. There are now three counties in Phase 1, three in a modified Phase 1, 23 in Phase 2, and 10 in Phase 3. Benton and Franklin have applied for Phase 2, and their applications are under review.

4:26pm – Cases are rising in nearly half the states, according to an Associated Press analysis, a worrying trend that could intensify as people return to work and venture out during the summer.

In Arizona, hospitals have been told to prepare for the worst. Texas has more hospitalized COVID-19 patients than at any time before. And the governor of North Carolina said recent jumps caused him to rethink plans to reopen schools or businesses. Read more from AP.

1:06pm – Washington state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal released the state’s plan for reopening schools this fall, stating that he expects classes to resume in person for students. Read more.

11:30am – The University of Washington announced Thursday that it would be removing its standardized testing requirement “for incoming students beyond Fall 2021.”

That requirement had previously been put on hold in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. The decision to make that removal more permanent came as part of a bit to “creating opportunities for the most promising students to learn and discover how they can make an impact.”

“Careful analysis and research showed that standardized testing did not add meaningfully to the prediction of student success that our holistic admission process already provides,” UW president Ana Mari Cauce said in a news release.

9:26am – Updated predictions from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation suggest a second coronavirus wave could hit the U.S. by mid-September.

By the beginning of October, the IHME’s model says that the U.S. could see up to almost 170,000 total COVID-19 deaths. As of early Thursday, there were just over 122,000 deaths from the virus combined across the country.

5:44am – Roughly 1.5 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week, according to the latest numbers released by the U.S. Department of Labor.

That’s the 10th straight weekly dip in jobless applications since peaking in mid-March. In total, around 21 million people are classified as jobless right now in the U.S.

Wednesday, June 10

9:17pm – Health officials say 415,342 have been tested for coronavirus in Washington state, and of those, 24,642 people have tested positive. That’s a rate of 5.9%. Washington has been at that rate for over a week. The state says 1,190 people have died from the virus. Over 3,700 people have been hospitalized.

2:04pm – The Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network (SCAN) will resume at-home testing and sample collection for COVID-19 on Wednesday. The program is now a research study with institutional review board approval and oversight from the UW, Seattle Children’s, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. SCAN was paused in May after the Food & Drug Administration clarified guidance for self-collected, home-based tests.

Public Health — Seattle & King County says SCAN is still pursuing an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA.

12:50pm – Regence BlueShield is extending no-cost COVID-19 treatment for fully insured members in Washington through Dec. 31, 2020. The coverage period was previously set to end June 30.

10:01am – Local officials are partnering with Beyonce’s BeyGood this coming weekend to provide drive-through coronavirus testing and other essential supplies to communities in South King County.

Drive-through testing will be available at HealthPoint in Renton on Saturday, June 13, between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., and at the SeaMar Medical Clinic in Federal Way on Sunday, June 14, between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.

5:52am – KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross and award-winning reporter Aaron Granillo discussed the World Health Organization quickly walking back an earlier claim that asymptomatic cases of novel coronavirus are “rare.” Listen to their conversation here. 

Tuesday, June 9

3:13pm – The Washington State Department of Health is now reporting 24,354 cases with 1,176 deaths statewide. Out of the 415,054 total tests, 5.9% have been positive results.

1:47pm – Much of the farm food that didn’t get shipped to restaurants and schools across Washington isn’t making it to local food banks either. Food Lifeline’s Mark Coleman tells KIRO Radio the storage and delivery chain just isn’t in place to transport all of this spring’s unused agricultural products. He says many food banks are buying bulk goods to replace the food donations that used to come from government, businesses and non-profits.

9:21am – The COVID-19 crisis has had Washington State Ferries operating on limited sailing schedules in recent months. That’s expected to continue this summer “until further notice.” Read more.

5:31am – The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation is now projecting Brazil to eventually have more COVID-19 deaths than the United States. This comes as Brazil has ceased its release of death totals to the public, and wiped data from its state-run website.

Monday, June 8

3:57pm – Health officials report 24,041 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,161 deaths in Washington state. Over 410,000 people have been tested across the state with a rate of positive cases at 5.9%.

3:24pm – Gov. Inslee said on Monday there are five counties in Phase 1 and eight counties in Phase 3. Skamania County applied for Phase 3 today. There are 25 counties in Phase 2. He said we should expect, by the weekend, there will be 10 more counties eligible for Phase 3. That means they can apply for Phase 3.

12:17pm – What was life like in Pierce and Snohomish Counties over the weekend after both counties moved into Phase 2 around noon on Friday? KIRO Radio’s Chris Sullivan explored his options. Read more.

5:39am – Seattle Fred Hutchinson scientist Trevor Bedford provided information on what he thinks we can expect from the COVID-19 outbreak in the wake of a series of national protests over the death of George Floyd.

Bedford noted that “shouting, tear gas, pepper spray and closely packed jails will increase transmission potential” for the virus, estimating an implied total of nearly 3,000 infected people attending protests daily across the U.S.

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