22 new COVID-19 cases reported in Spokane County

Health officials in Spokane County reported 22 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday.

That brings the county total to 651. No new deaths were reported, and seven people are currently hospitalized.

State health officials encouraged Washington residents to seek out testing if they have any symptoms of COVID-19. Secretary of Health John Wiesman asked residents to get tested if they experience any of the symptoms of the virus including fever, coughing and shortness of breath, fatigue, nausea or loss of taste or smell.

Wiesman said we have to unlearn some of the previous messaging around testing, such as when health officials were asking people without severe symptoms to isolate at home, due to limited testing supplies. Now the state supply of testing materials is more stable, Gov. Jay Inslee said in a press conference Thursday.

“The infection rate is probably going down somewhat at this point,” Wiesman said. “We certainly see that when we look at our county rates, so there are fewer people with symptoms so all of those things are playing together, so we’ve got the capacity (to test).”

Spokane County currently has a 3.7% infection rate of COVID-19, and nearly 17,000 residents have been tested for the virus so far.

Seven counties have applied for Phase 3 of Inslee’s Safe Start plan, and many more have applied for Phase 2 or a variation of Phase 1. Decisions on those applications are forthcoming, and Wiesman said a team is dedicated to reviewing those applications that meets daily.