The Tuesday, May 19 data from the Snohomish Health District present a mixed bag of good and concerning news.

New cases per day (yellow chart) is continuing its slow but steady upward trend, with 28 new cases reported Tuesday. But at the same time, more people are recovering and recovering faster. Total active cases in Snohomish County (red chart) has dropped to 558, the lowest figure since the end of March, no doubt reflective of the increase in total recovered cases (green chart) of 119 since Monday, which brings to 2,465 the number of Snohomish County resident who have beaten the virus.

Hospitalizations (purple chart) are also down. Fourteen patients were released since Monday, leaving 38 currently receiving hospital care for COVID-19, the lowest number in more than a month. Good news for the patients, their families and health care workers.

After going the full weekend without a single death, Tuesday’s figures (gray chart) add five more to those who have lost their lives to COVID-19, the highest single-day total since April 22. The total Snohomish County COVID-19 death toll over the reporting period now stands at 131, or 4.15% of those infected.

Regular readers of the COVID-19 Daily Report will recall that Monday’s report included three new charts, two of which illustrate testing activity, numbers and results (negative vs. positive) in Snohomish County. Because these data are reported weekly by the health district, we will not re-run the charts each day, but rather include them in our new COVID-19 Weekend Report, with will begin running this Sunday, May 24.  The third chart, also to be part of the weekend report, will illustrate the most common sources of infection and how many cases were contracted from each.

— By Larry Vogel

Our latest coverage

Larsen to host third COVID-19 telephone town hall May 20