SPOKANE, Wash. — According to the Washington Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard, the number of overall state COVID cases is beginning to fall.
Spokane Regional Health District health officer Dr. Francisco Velázquez said western Washington counties are seeing a decrease in COVID case rates and eastern Washington counties should follow in the next few weeks.
Currently, hospitals are seeing COVID patient numbers at an all-time high.
Earlier this week, Providence Chief Executive Susan Stacey said Sacred Heart saw a record-breaking number of COVID patients, topping over one hundred.
Dr. Velázquez said to help stop the spread, it will take all of the community doing their individual parts.
"Every bit we as community members of the community can do to prevent one more case," Dr. Velázquez said. "One more case in schools, one more case in hospitals, one more case, in the long term care facility, one more case, wherever it may be, it is important for us to remain diligent."
And in remaining diligent, Dr. Velázquez said people need to continue wearing their masks, getting vaccinations and boosters and paying attention to symptoms.
He said this will help us reach the peak, but once eastern Washington begins to see COVID case numbers drop, it's important to note that COVID won't disappear overnight.
"We still have a few weeks of high case rates," Dr. Velázquez said. "And even when we peak and start a downward trend, please remember that that's a downward trend from a very, very, very high number of cases. So it's going to take a while for us to come down, and we're not going to go down to zero, there's still going to be some cases in the community."
Dr. Ali Mokdad, professor at the University of Washington, said COVID will become more manageable like all other endemics, like influenza or measles.
Dr. Velázquez said the community should prepare to see a decrease in eastern Washington COVID cases early February.