SPOKANE, Wash — In the past week, Spokane County has repeatedly shattered its old records when it comes to new daily cases.
It's been by far the worst week of the pandemic by that metric. Nov. 7 saw more than 347 cases, nearly double the previous high.
When it comes to hospitalizations, it's been record-setting as well. There were 12 on Nov. 6, only the second time Spokane's gone into double digits.
The overall spike in hospitalizations isn't as dramatically bigger relative to past spikes, as the daily case counts are. However, the rise in hospitalizations is more sustained than previous spikes, with the number not looking likely to go down any time soon.
It's frightening enough that local hospitals are making sure they're prepared.
A statement from MultiCare read in part, "We have seen a steady increase in COVID-19 patients over the last month at all hospitals and are approaching the numbers of hospitalized patients that we saw in the spring. We have reopened our COVID units and are preparing for a surge as people gather for the holidays. While our hospitals have capacity to take care of our community, we are concerned about increasing transmission of this virus."
From Providence, a statement read in part, "Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Providence Holy Family Hospital continuously monitor bed capacity. While the numbers change frequently and we do have a high number of patients with COVID in our hospitals, we still have capacity at this time."
The surge is taking place statewide as well, serious enough that state health leaders held an emergency press conference warning people to stop gathering in large groups.
As in Spokane County, the current spike in cases statewide is the largest of the pandemic.
However, unlike here, the hospitalization numbers are far from their 2020 peak, which was during the initial spread of the virus in early spring.
So how much of the statewide spike can be attributed to Spokane County? Well that depends on the day.
On that historic Nov. 7, Spokane accounted for about 42 percent of all the new confirmed cases in the entire state.
But on the day of the state's all time high, November 5, the county made up just over 7 percent of confirmed cases.
And when it comes to overall cases this year, Spokane is fourth, behind only King, Yakima, and Pierce counties. It has more cases than Snohomish County despite being about 300,000 people smaller in population.