Eight months ago tonight, King County announced its first COVID-19 case. Here’s where we are now:

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Public Health daily-summary dashboard, the cumulative totals:

*26,817 people have tested positive, 196 more than yesterday’s total

*803 people have died, 3 more than yesterday’s total

*2,561 people have been hospitalized, 2 more than yesterday’s total

*530,067 people have been tested, 3,243 more than yesterday’s total

One week ago, those totals were 25.554/787/2,516/514.434.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them, county by county, on the state Department of Health page,.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: See them, nation by nation, here.

STATEWIDE SITUATION REPORT: The state reports:

Today the Washington State Department of Health released the latest statewide situation report on COVID-19 transmission, which shows a general rise in the intensity of the epidemic in both western and eastern Washington.

Report findings include:

*Transmission is increasing in western and eastern Washington. The best estimates of the reproductive number (how many new people each COVID-19 patient will infect) were 1.34 in western Washington and 1.12 in eastern Washington as of October 10. The goal is a number well below one, which would mean COVID-19 transmission is declining.

*From mid-September to mid-October, case counts and hospitalizations have risen in both western and eastern Washington. Some of the increase in early October appears to be due to more testing. However, case counts increased during the week ending October 15 despite decreases in testing.

*Increases in western Washington are widely distributed geographically and across ages. Growth is particularly high in the 25 to 39 and 40 to 59 age groups and in the Puget Sound region (Snohomish, King and Pierce counties). This wide distribution suggests increases are due to broad community spread, not driven by a single type of activity or setting.

HOLIDAY TRADITION, PANDEMIC STYLE: West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor) is handling its “Holiday Taste” differently this year – starting now

HALLOWEEN, PANDEMIC STYLE: Still adding more no-contact trick-or-treating (some happening Friday as well as Saturday) and decoration locations to our Halloween page. This display, incorporating the virus, may be the prize-winner so far (thanks to Lynda B for the photo):

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