Technical Notes
Dashboard update schedule
Effective December 20, DOH updates its dashboard every Monday-Saturday, with the following exceptions.
- Federal and state holidays (e.g., December 25, January 1)
- COVID-19 death data is updated Monday-Friday only. We add the counts collected on weekends to the following Monday and Tuesday reports.
- COVID-19 vaccination data is updated on alternate weekdays (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays).
Time delays and lags
Minor time delays in the collection of laboratory testing data, confirming cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and vaccinations occur regularly due to processing and reporting variation between data sources. This variation is due to differences in individual actions, laboratory capacities, and case confirmation and reporting processes.
After analyzing time lags between steps, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) increased the period of incomplete reporting for most metrics to 10 days to ensure that 90% of data are accounted for in our posted numbers. For each metric shown on a time trend, the incomplete data period is shown in light gray. We provide a Learn More link with more detail on the period of incomplete data.
Vaccinations
All healthcare providers in Washington state (including hospitals, pharmacies, and primary care providers) are required to report within 24 hours when they give a COVID-19 vaccine to a patient. They do this via the Washington State Immunization Information System (IIS). Most vaccination data should appear in this dashboard within seven days of when the vaccine was given.
The dashboard includes all COVID-19 vaccinations reported to the IIS since the first Emergency Use Authorization was approved (December 11, 2020).
Number of infections
Public health experts agree that the true number of people who have been infected with COVID-19 in Washington greatly exceeds those that have been laboratory-confirmed. It is very difficult to know exactly how many people in Washington have been infected to date, since most people with COVID-19 experience mild illness and testing is still not widely available.
Cases
Effective December 16, 2020, case, hospitalization, and death counts include both confirmed and probable cases. Confirmed cases are those where individuals had a positive molecular test result for COVID-19. Probable cases are those where individuals had a positive antigen test result for COVID-19, but no positive molecular test result. Our dashboard includes antigen test results dating back to June 2020, when they were first reported in Washington.
Testing
Two important data issues continue to affect results presented on the testing tab: 1) the delayed entry of negative lab results into our data system; and 2) the lack of an assigned county for about 21% of negative test results. These issues impact some counties disproportionately. Washington State Department of Health (DOH) continues to work on a sustainable solution.
Effective August 25, 2020, DOH changed the methodology for reporting test results. The total number of tests are now reported instead of the total number of individuals tested. New positive and negative test counts include all molecular tests (by specimen collection date) of individuals who have not previously tested positive. Multiple test results from the same day are counted only once and we exclude repeat tests on an individual after the first positive result. This methodology has been applied to the entire dashboard timeframe. The changes in our testing methodology did not affect dashboard testing trends.
Deaths
Deaths are reported to the state by health care providers, medical examiners/coroners, local health departments, and others. For this reason, the statewide count of deaths often lags behind the counts of local health departments.
As of December 10, 2020, death counts on our dashboard reflect those in our official vital records database (the Washington Health and Life Events System) where the cause of death was confirmed or suspected to have been COVID-19. If COVID-19 is later ruled out as the official cause of death, we will remove these deaths from our dashboard. We no longer report preliminary death information recorded in other systems.
On December 16, we encountered a timing issue that resulted in a temporary decrease in the death count published on Friday, December 18, 2020. We expect these deaths to be added back over time, as we receive final death certificates.