214 Coronavirus Deaths Removed From WA Totals After Adjustment

OLYMPIA, WA — The Washington State Department of Health on Thursday made a major adjustment to how it publicly reports coronavirus deaths, resulting in a noticeable drop in the totals reflected on the state dashboard.

Previously, the department included deaths that had a preliminary cause listed, the department said. Moving forward, the count will only include cases with an official, registered cause of death listed. According to state health officials, the change will streamline its process as death counts increase and allow for more precise reporting.

"Our normal process for releasing final death data is complex, involves multiple data systems, and can take up to 18 months from start to finish. This modified process requires that we make adjustments publicly and quickly without impacting the quality of the data or of our reporting.

Deaths due to factors other than COVID-19 can be hard to definitively rule out. For many of these conditions, COVID-19 may have hastened the death. These are the deaths we are reviewing, along with local health jurisdictions, to assess COVID-19’s impact on the death."

As a result of the adjustments, Washington's official death count dropped from 3,016 on Wednesday to 2,850 Thursday, a difference of 166. In a news release, state health officials said a total of 214 previously reported deaths would be removed from the dashboard temporarily, but it expected to add back at least 152 within two weeks.

More from the Department of Health:

• We will no longer assume a death is caused by COVID-19 if a positive lab result is reported more than 28 days prior to death. Until now, we correlated a positive COVID-19 lab result up to 60 days prior to death. Using this new process, 68 such deaths are being removed from our dashboard today.
• Deaths won’t be reported until they are fully registered in the Washington Health and Life Event System (WHALES). Just over 150 deaths that are only in the state’s Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS) fit into this category. These deaths will return to dashboard death counts once they are registered in WHALES.

In a news release, officials said the new method means it will take longer to report deaths after they occur, but the result will be a more accurate representation of the data.

The changes to reporting come one day after the state added 49 deaths to its tally, which appeared to be the highest daily increase recorded in Washington since the pandemic began.

On Thursday, the state also added 2,550 coronavirus cases and 88 hospitalizations. The Department of Health is still working to "deduplicate" recent data and said Thursday's case count may include up to 300 duplicates.

State releases new situation report; Thanksgiving impact remains 'uncertain'

Earlier Thursday, health officials published the state's latest situation report, showing a continued and rapid spread of the coronavirus through mid-November, and a sharp increase in daily hospitalizations across Washington.

Here are a few of the highlights identified by DOH:

• COVID-19 continued to spread at a rapid pace throughout the state through mid-November. The best estimates of the reproductive number (how many new people each COVID-19 patient will infect) were 1.44 in western Washington and 1.33 in eastern Washington as of November 15. The goal is a number well below one, which would mean COVID-19 transmission is declining.
• 30 of 39 counties had rates above 200 new cases per 100,000 people prior to Thanksgiving. This indicates that COVID-19 activity is both high and widespread in Washington.
• Cases, hospitalizations and deaths continued to increase sharply since the last situation report. The seven-day rolling average case count in western Washington was more than eight times higher on November 20 than September 12. In eastern Washington, that average increased fivefold over the same period.
• Daily hospitalizations have been on the rise, with hospital admissions reaching peak March levels as of November 20. Eastern Washington saw an almost threefold increase in daily hospital admissions since the start of September. In western Washington, daily hospitalizations increased over four times since the beginning of October.
• Over the month of November, the number of hospital beds occupied by patients with COVID-19 rose sharply across the state. Intensive care unit (ICU) beds occupied by COVID-19 patients show a similar trend, with particularly steep increases in western Washington.
• If hospital admissions continue to grow, we could see hospital occupancy double every two weeks. Hospital occupancy rises faster than admissions, as COVID-19 patients generally stay in the hospital longer than one day. Increasing percentages of the general population with active COVID-19 infections could also result in hospital staff shortages. Washington hospitals have already reduced non-urgent procedures to increase capacity, and ability to create further capacity may be limited. It’s not yet clear whether we are beginning to see a leveling off of hospital admissions or if exponential growth will continue.
• Growth in cases is widely distributed across the state. Among the five largest counties, Clark, Snohomish and Spokane continued to see increases in case counts. Case counts appeared to be flattening in King and Pierce counties. Several medium-sized counties (Benton, Cowlitz, Franklin, Grant, Skagit, Thurston and Yakima) saw steep increases through mid-November, with some recent flattening through November 20. Other mid-size counties such as Kitsap and Whatcom continued to see increases.
• Many small counties are still affected by the surge, with high case counts for their population size. Several of these counties (Adams, Asotin, Clallam, Walla Walla and Whitman) saw recent plateaus but still have high average case counts. Others (Chelan, Kittitas, Lewis, Stevens) continued to show increases. Several counties (Mason, Okanogan, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Columbia, Ferry, Skamania, Wahkiakum) had low overall case numbers but were still seeing increasing case counts. Per capita case rates were particularly high in several southeastern counties.
• The overall percentage of Washington state residents with active COVID-19 infection was higher in November than the peak in late March. The best model-based estimate as of November 20 was 0.52%.

Reiterating what state leaders said Wednesday, the department said some trends, like case counts, are still uncertain following Thanksgiving, due in part to fewer people seeking testing or health care over the long holiday weekend. However, concerning trajectories remain in hospitalization rates and testing positivity percentages. The governor's extended restrictions are in place until Jan. 4, and health officials are urging against traditional celebrations over Christmas and New Year's.

"We are still seeing some alarming trends in our data as we wait to see the full impact of any gatherings that took place over Thanksgiving," said John Wiesman, the state secretary of health. "We must stay the course going into winter holidays to avoid overwhelming our hospitals. While there are reasons to feel hopeful, including our progress toward distributing COVID-19 vaccine, right now we need to continue to make the choices we know will sloe transmission. Mask up, gather remotely and stay at home as much as possible."

Wiesman said Wednesday that the state expects to have a clearer picture of the holiday's potential impact in the coming days.

Related: WA Expects More Vaccine Shipments, Unveils New Assistance Program