Why King County isn’t in ‘high risk’ category for COVID-19 despite rising case rates

Despite rising COVID-19 case rates across King County, it is not considered to be in the “high risk” category, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the CDC, counties, states, or territories with 200 or more new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days are defined as having high community levels of the virus by two metrics:

• Having 10 or more new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people over seven days.
• A percentage of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients over seven days of 10% or more.

According to the CDC, King County’s case rate per 100,000 is 327.06.

The county has had just eight new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 over the past seven days. A mark of under 10 qualifies the county for medium COVID-19 levels.

Only 5.8% of inpatient beds in use are confirmed to be used by patients with COVID-19, also putting the county under the 10% mark required to be considered as having medium levels of the virus.

As of Wednesday, July 6, the county has had 471,077 total cases and 2,910 deaths.

The county is averaging 1,063 daily cases, a 1% increase in the last seven days from the seven days prior, according to the county’s COVID-19 summary dashboard.

• Follow this link to read additional stories from KIRO 7