A summer COVID-19 surge is on its way through Seattle and the region. Infection rates and emergency department visits in King County have been rising since the end of April, causing some concern among doctors and public health officials as travel season picks up and people begin gathering more frequently. “This is the time when people should start taking precautions,” said Dr.
Eric Chow, King County’s chief of communicable diseases. “I don’t know how high this [peak] is going to be, when it’s going to peak, but taking precautions now is the best way for people to be able to mitigate the complications related to COVID.” King County’s virus-related emergency department visits hit a new low the week ending April 27, when only about 0.
5% of visits involved a COVID diagnosis. As of last week, COVID patients made up about 1.5% of hospital emergency visits.
Levels are still below the county’s transmission alert threshold, which is when COVID patients reflect at least 3% of emergency department visits. When the county hits that threshold, it’s a signal that community transmission is more substantial and poses a greater risk of causing severe infection or death. But because fewer people are testing themselves for COVID and emergency department data generally lags behind waves of infection, Chow noted there’s “probably a lot more community transmission that’s happening that’s not fully captured in the data here.
” State COVID emergency department visits hav.
