Data Downloads
Reports
Data Notes
August 28: The Washington State Department of Health will end the publication of COVID-19 death counts over the weekends starting the weekend of August 28-30. Regular publishing of COVID-19 death counts will occur Monday through Friday.
While all deaths will continue to be reported, DOH will now add the counts generated from the weekend to the following Monday and Tuesday reports, as part of the regular reporting process for those days.
August 25: DOH changed the methodology for reporting out testing results. Effective today, total number of tests will be reported on the data dashboard instead of the total individuals who were tested. New positive and negative test counts include all molecular tests by specimen collection date among individuals who have not previously tested positive. Multiple test results from the same day are counted only once and repeat tests on an individual are excluded after the first positive result. This methodology has been applied to the entire 2020 time frame covered in the dashboard. The testing trends remain largely the same.
August 25: Time delays in reporting testing, confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths vary due to processing and reporting steps. For each confirmed case, the period from illness onset to collection of a specimen to getting a lab result and then processing it through the data reporting system is variable depending on an individual’s actions taken, the capacity of the lab, confirmation of the case and the reporting process itself. Following analysis of time lags between steps, DOH has increased the period of incomplete reporting for most metrics to ensure that 90% of the data is accounted for in our posted numbers. For each metric the time lag depends on the date used for counting, then the processes after that date. For each metric with a time trend presented, the incomplete data period is shown in light gray, and the Learn More link provides detail on the period of incomplete data.
July 13: We are working on changes to provide more context to death reporting and report death counts that reflect deaths where COVID-19 caused or contributed to the death. We have made additional steps in this process and are removing 39 from our counts. All of these are natural deaths, and after review it was determined that COVID-19 did not cause or contribute to the death. We will continue to update death counts as additional information on cause of death is received.
Notes on testing:
- Effective July 1, 2020, DOH has added a downloadable table on the "Testing" tab that has individuals with positive and negative tests, and the percent of positive tests by county and day.
- Two important data issues continue to effect results presented on the testing tab. The first is that there are negative lab results that have not yet been entered into our data system. The second is that about 21% of negative test results do not have an assigned county. These two issues impact some counties disproportionately. Department of Health continues to work on a sustainable solution.
- Regarding reporting for testing in general, the data presented is by number of individuals not by number of tests. An individual is only counted one time in all graphics and tables. They are classified by their first positive test result, or their first negative if they never had a positive test.
Note on the deaths: Some deaths may be reported by health care providers, medical examiners/coroners, local health departments, or others before they are included in the statewide count. It takes longer for the state to announce deaths because they are often reported first to the local health department and then to us.
Case Report Date, June 16, 2020: As of June 16, 2020, DOH switched from using the date a case was reported to the Department of Health to the date of an individual’s first positive lab result. This is a more accurate designation of case confirmation that will shift some case counts by date, most noticeably for cumulative case counts and graphics. This will affect less than 10% of the reported cases.
Note on the number of infections: Public health experts agree that the true number of people who have been infected with COVID-19 in Washington greatly exceeds the number of COVID-19 infections 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 the ability to get tested is still not widely available.