Spokane County nearing 5,000 COVID-19 cases, but daily rates remain low

Spokane County is approaching 5,000 total COVID-19 cases, with 41 new cases reported on Friday.

The county total is now at 4,996 cases, according to the Spokane Regional Health District. The district reported one new death on Friday, bringing the total to 110 deaths due to the virus. As of Friday, there are 41 total patients receiving treatment for the virus in Spokane hospitals, including 35 county residents.

The county will likely hit 5,000 total cases over the weekend, meaning it will have seen 1,000 new cases in the past 20 days or so, depending on when the county reports 5,000.

It took the county 101 days to reach its first 1,000 cases. After that, it took 18 days to reach 2,000, 12 more days to reach 3,000 and 12 more days to reach 4,000.

As of Friday, most residents in Spokane who died due to COVID-19 were older than 70, and most who were hospitalized due to the virus were older than 50.

Still, cases in the Inland Northwest appear to be plateauing.

In North Idaho, the Panhandle Health District reported 12 new cases on Friday, bringing the county total to 2,559 cases. As of Friday, there were 14 residents hospitalized, according to the district, which covers Kootenai, Bonner, Boundary, Benewah and Shoshone counties.

Most cases are in Kootenai County, which had eight new cases on Friday. Thirty-three district residents, all 60 years or older, have died due to the virus.

Similar to Spokane, most residents hospitalized are older than 60, although total hospitalizations include 23 people under the age of 60, as of Friday.

The Washington State Department of Health reported 69,779 confirmed cases of the virus as of midnight Thursday, although daily case rates are declining. On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee said he was “cautiously pleased” with the declining rates across the state but reminded residents there was still a long way to go.