16 more cases of COVID-19 reported in Spokane County on Sunday

Sixteen additional cases of COVID-19 were reported by the Spokane Regional Health District on Sunday, a day after a statewide report found that the county has yet to reach its peak of anticipated cases of the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

A little more than half of the 833 people who have contracted the disease in the county have recovered, according to the health district. The district tracks people as recovered who are not hospitalized 28 days after an initial onset of symptoms.

There were no new deaths reported Sunday. To date, 37 people in Spokane County have died after contracting COVID-19.

Spokane County remains under Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s reopening plan, which calls for limiting contact with people outside the home and calls for social distancing measures at businesses that are eligible to reopen. Spokane County has the hospital capacity necessary to meet Inslee’s guidance for moving forward with reopening, but testing and the percent of people testing positive exceed the guidance. Surrounding counties in Eastern Washington have been approved to move to Phase 3.

Statewide, there have been 25,834 confirmed cases of the virus, with 1,217 deaths, the Washington Health Department reported Sunday.