6 now dead from coronavirus in Washington state, feds help investigate

A sixth person has died from presumed coronavirus in the Seattle area, public heath officials said on Monday morning.

There are currently 17 reported cases of the illness statewide: 14 in King County and three in Snohomish County.

The six individuals who died of presumed coronavirus were women and men ranging from their 40s to 80s. The patients died at EvergreenHealth, a community hospital in Kirkland, across the lake from Seattle. Five were King County residents and one was a resident of Snohomish County, according to local health officials.

Gov. Jay Inslee said during a press conference Monday that a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was on the ground in King County, helping local health officials investigate the outbreak. Although he hasn't formally requested the cancellation of large events in Washington state, Inslee said this could happen in the future.

Inslee declared a state of emergency Feb. 29 in response to the growing number of new COVID-19 cases. The first U.S. case of the disease was confirmed in Snohomish County by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 21.

Inslee added that state officials have asked the federal government to release a variety of medical equipment from its stockpile and asserted that he was “reasonably confident that those requests will be honored.”

State officials are also in the process of evaluating surge capacity in Washington's health care system, and are reviewing multiple locations to serve as quarantine sites that provide medical care to individuals affected by coronavirus. The state is operating under the working assumption that there are asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19 who could transmit the disease, according to Inslee.

The Washington State Public Health Laboratory, based in Shoreline, north of Seattle, is continuously running tests for the disease and numbers of infected are expected to increase. Inslee said that the facility was currently prepared to test approximately 100 people per day for the coronavirus, which means 200 tests total — two per person — could be administered daily.

According to the department's website, the state will only report confirmed cases, in which people have tested positive for COVID-19, going forward. Previous reports included suspected cases.

King County health officials are urging people not to visit emergency rooms unless circumstances are dire. They say that those who experience a cough, fever, or other respiratory symptoms should contact their primary doctor first.