Washington’s coronavirus cases are down across all age groups, state says

Coronavirus cases in Washington are down across all age groups, including school-age children, the state Department of Health said Wednesday.

The encouraging trend comes several weeks after the state passed a peak of infection driven by the delta variant, which health and hospital officials have said brought the highest numbers of infections and hospitalizations yet.

“We’re seeing some signs of improvement, but disease remains high across the state,” Lacy Fehrenbach, DOH’s deputy secretary for COVID-19 response, said during a news conference. “We’re encouraged that we’re going the right direction, but we have a long way to go to get through this delta wave and prepare for the winter respiratory virus season.”

As of Oct. 3, the state’s seven-day case rate was 234 infections per 100,000 people, Fehrenbach said. According to DOH’s coronavirus data dashboard, the current rate is similar to that of early January and down from a peak in early September of over 300 infections per 100,000 people.