Pandemic notes for June’s first Saturday:

THE BIG PICTURE: The state has released a new report that gives an overview based on “surveillance and modeling.” Key points:

Report findings include:

*Statewide case counts and hospital admissions continued to decline as of May 20.

*Vaccination is protecting people from COVID-19 illness severe enough to require hospitalization.

*Increasing immunity from vaccination is playing an important role in reducing transmission.

*While vaccination has helped reduce the spread of the virus, the level of transmission was still fairly high as of mid-May.

*As of May 20, case rates were declining across all age groups except people ages 70 and older, among whom case rates have stayed mostly flat since March. Hospital admission rates followed similar trends, declining among people ages 20-69 and remaining flat but high in ages 70 and older.

*The number of total hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients is declining as of May 30. The number of ICU beds occupied by these patients has remained fairly flat through the end of May.

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: Here are the cumulative totals from Public Health‘s daily-summary dashboard:

*110,258 people have tested positive, 141 more than yesterday’s total

*1,602 people have died, 3 more than yesterday’s total

*6,224 people have been hospitalized, 10 more than yesterday’s total

ONE WEEK AGO: Last Saturday, those numbers were 109,591/1,592/6,161.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 172.8 million people have tested positive, and more than 3,718,000 people have died; U.S. deaths exceed 594,000. Most cases: U.S., India, Brazil, France, Turkey (unchanged again this week). See the breakdown, nation by nation, here.

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