County COVID cases continue to decline

Snohomish County COVID cases declined further as almost all indicators dropped to levels that they haven’t been at since last year.

A total of 290 cases were reported in the week ending March 19 in Snohomish County.

“That is another approximately 40 percent reduction from the prior week,” said Snohomish Health District Health Officer Dr. Chris Spitters.

The peak in January saw 3,596 cases reported in one week.

The two-week average of the daily case rate was 79 per 100,000 people.

“That’s the lowest rate we’ve seen since last June or July,” said Spitters.

The testing positive rate also fell below 5 percent for the first time since December 2021.

Basically, the only data that trended badly for the county over the last two weeks is the proportion of the BA.2 subvariant of COVID.

“This is a descendant of the current Omicron variant that recently went through our community,” said Spitters.

At the state level, testing showed about 9 percent of positive tests came from the BA.2 subvariant, which shows an increase from previous testing.

Those tests are about a week or two behind though, so Spitters said it is likely the state’s proportion has increased at the same rate as the national average, which is about 25 percent of total cases.

“The sense is that it is going to displace Omicron, in part because Omicron may have run its course,” said Spitters.

“It was looming out there in the past month, but in the past week it has been accelerating its proportional share,” he added.

What the increased prevalence of the new subvariant means for the county’s future is uncertain.

“Several countries in Europe have had a surge of cases due to BA.2, although for other countries that is not true,” said Spitters.

The data about the BA.2 subvariant so far shows no reason to be expect it will be more dangerous.

“We don’t seem to see any increased escape of immunity or strong signal of increase in severity,” said Spitters.

“Some experts do expect an increase in cases in the coming months, although the spread is likely to be buffered here due to vaccination or prior infection,” he said.

He said it is difficult to predict what will happen.

The state’s masking requirements were lifted on March 12 and the county will know if that has had an effect in the coming weeks.

“It’s still too early to draw conclusions about the transmission of COVID from that change,” said Spitters.

Masking requirements remain in some situations.

“It’s a good idea to keep a mask with you when you’re out in the community as there are still places where masks are required due to state requirements, federal requirements or because a business will request them,” said Spitters.

Those requirements remain in public transportation and medical settings, including dentists’ offices and pharmacies.