SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — As the first wave of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine makes its way into Washington State, several questions have emerged as the vast majority of Washingtonians must continue to wait for their first dose of the vaccine.
Those questions include: How did the Airway Heights Correctional Center outbreak impact the county's overall cases? Is Spokane County seeing any progress at all post-Thanksgiving? And where else are we seeing the highest frequency of COVID-19 outbreaks?
How did the Airway Heights Correctional Center outbreak impact the county's overall cases?
As friends, family members, and advocates continue to push for better conditions for the inmates at AHCC, Spokane Regional Health District posted the following message on their interactive web portal:
"Cases reported during the week of 12/7/20-12/12/20 are expected to include the over 700 positive cases connected to the Airway Heights Corrections Center outbreak."
Within those six days, the health district has reported two of the five highest single-day totals throughout the entire year: 686 on Tuesday, December 8th and 408 on Saturday, December 12th.
Therefore, the impact is clear: the COVID-19 outbreak at Airway Heights Correctional Center has directly contributed to some of the highest single-day totals Spokane County has ever seen.
Is Spokane County seeing any progress at all post-Thanksgiving?
Since Governor Inslee's announcement on November 18th that new statewide restrictions were in place, there is a direct correlation with the average number of cases using a moving, 14-day average.
And using that average, it appears the "curve" is starting to plateau once again.
But if we apply the latest update from SRHD's web portal, and remove the "over 700 positive cases connected to the Airway Heights Corrections Center," not only do case numbers start to plateau, but they would also figuratively drop.
So yes, we can see that Spokane County's COVID-19 case numbers appear to be leveling out and hopefully starting to improve.
Where are we seeing the highest frequency of COVID-19 outbreaks?
The Spokane Regional Health District web portal also isolates COVID-19 cases by their Zip Code, allowing anyone visiting the site to see which areas have been hit the hardest.
As of Tuesday, December 15th, the three zip codes with the highest frequency of COVID-19 cases are:
99001 Zip Code (Airway Heights): 7051 Cases/100,000 People
99218 Zip Code (Spokane/Country Homes/Fairwood/Town and Country Area): 5871 Cases/100,000 People
99216 Zip Code (Spokane Valley): 5134 Cases/100,000 People