SPOKANE, Wash. — Washington state health experts expected the highest number of COVID-19 cases by the end of December.
According to the Washington Department of Health (DOH), the state had over 6,000 confirmed new cases on Dec. 24. This total was the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded in a day.
DOH officials encourage Washington residents to continue wearing masks, seeking out testing and getting vaccinated to avoid the number of COVID-19 cases grows for New Year's Eve.
There is already one mass vaccination site in western Washington. The DOH says the health department plans on building a second site in western Washington, but there are no plans to build one in eastern Washington.
“We are monitoring both supply and demand of vaccines across the state, and also testing across the state to see where we can position all of our resources,” said Lacy Fehrenbach, deputy secretary for COVID-19 response for the DOH.
Right now, the Spokane Falls Community College and Spokane Expo Center testing sites are no longer accepting appointments through the end of the year, according to the Spokane Regional Health District's website.
DOH officials are encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated, if they are eligible. Officials predict there will be school closures in the new year.
"We are likely to see some classroom or school closures given the level of disease out there," Fehrenbach said.
The state is keeping an eye on the variant split amongst current positive cases.
Spokane county identified its first case of Omicron on Wednesday.