The nationwide surge in COVID infections is now reaching us locally, with Snohomish County showing an uptick in cases, albeit not as severe as many areas of the United States.

As additional global perspective, the following snapshot comparing the top hotspots throughout the world from Johns Hopkins University shows the United States trending sharply upward in June after steadily declining through April and May, and emerging this week as the world leader in numbers of new confirmed new cases, now surpassing Brazil. Check the Johns Hopkins COVID New Cases page for additional charts and information on worldwide trends.

Closer to home, the following two tables taken from the Washington State Department of Health COVID Dashboard give a comparison of the numbers for Snohomish County and Washington State as a whole, showing that our area is now surpassing the state average in both positive tests and COVID-related death rate.

Additional detail on Snohomish County’s current situation is provided on the Washington State COVID Risk Assessment Dashboard. The following table examines how the above numbers break down among age groups, further illustrating the disproportionate severity of COVID cases among older people.

The numbers in the next table further bear out Snohomish County’s slippage from earlier this month, when the county qualified for and was granted approval to move to Phase 2 reopening under Gov. Inslee’s Safe Start plan. We are now no longer meeting Phase 2 thresholds for three of the five critical criteria. Late last week, this turnabout prompted county officials to delay efforts to apply for Phase 3 approval.

This week’s cumulative count curves also reflect the resurgence of the virus.  The curves for both Snohomish County and Washington State are now showing a pronounced upward tilt, a departure from last month’s decline.

This pattern is also reflected in the new cases per day charts. The most recent data, however, offer a slender ray of encouragement, with the latest preliminary numbers seeming to show new cases backing off. Note that all numbers represented by grey bars are not final and are subject to change as the data are verified.

Source data for this report come from Washington State Department of Health COVID Dashboard, the Washington State COVID Risk Assessment Dashboard, and the Johns Hopkins COVID New Cases page. Additional charts and information are available from these sources, as well as the Snohomish Health District COVID-19 Case Count page.

— By Larry Vogel