[Updated for a 5th time on 8/13/20 to include latest data from King County Public Health, with 4 additional Snoqualmie cases added (2 city limits and 2 in unincorporated area) and 4 additional North Bend cases (1 city limits and 3 unincorporated area) added .]
The trend of new COVID-19 cases in Snoqualmie appears to be continuing into August, with 21 new cases reported so far this month. In nearby, more populous Issaquah, 11 new cases were reported in August.
After King County Public Health reported 15 new Snoqualmie (city limits) cases in July – a 400% increase over new June cases – King County reported another 21 new Snoqualmie cases during first 12 days of August.
Snoqualmie Surpassing King County Trends for Past 3 Weeks
Over the past 3 weeks Snoqualmie (city limits) reported 29 new coronavirus cases, with a 4.2% positive test rate. North Bend (city limits) reported 8 new cases with a 2.7% positive test rate. During that same time period, King County reported approximately 2,982 new cases, with an approximate 3.2% positive test rate.
On Friday, August 7th, King County reported 134 new coronavirus cases, with 3 of those cases in North Bend and 2 in Snoqualmie – or 3.7% of King County’s reported new cases for Friday. The North Bend and Snoqualmie areas only represent about 1.7% of King County’s total population.
Of the 21 new Snoqualmie (city limit) cases reported in August, 1 was in the 0-9 age group; 16 were in the 10-19 age group; 1 in the 20-29 age group; 2 in the 40-49 age group; and 1 in the 50-59 age group. Of North Bend’s 6 new August cases, 4 were in the 10-19 age group; 1 in the 40-49 age group; and 1 in the 50-59 age group.
Snoqualmie business Pineapple Life transitioned all of its classes to virtual yesterday, saying on Facebook, “There are simply too many links in the chain of exposure to Covid 19 for us to keep open in any capacity other than virtual. We value your safety as well as our families and as this mystery continues to unfold we will not stop working on bringing wellness mainstream.”
Over the past few weeks, the yoga and barre studio had one employee test positive and another exposed outside of work.
Since the coronavirus outbreak began in late spring, 5.6% of all King County tests have been positive, with an infection rate of about 772 per 100,000 residents. In Snoqualmie those numbers are 4.1% and 453 per 100,000 residents. In North Bend they are 2.4% and 359 per 100,000 residents.
The above statistics reflect the city limits of North Bend and Snoqualmie, but about half of North Bend’s population and about 12% of Snoqualmie’s population live in unincorporated areas. King County, though, only does detailed daily case and demographic tracking for city limit cases.
For all of North Bend zip code 98045, there have been 49 total positive coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, with 20 occurring since July. For all of Snoqualmie zip code 98065, there have been 80 total cases, with 46 occurring since July. Both zip codes have approximately 16,000 residents.
King County County health officials have blamed social gatherings and lack of distancing as the main drivers of coronavirus spread this summer. As such, they recently placed new restrictions on restaurants; indefinitely froze counties abilities to move through the state’s reopening Safe Start phases; reduced phase 3 social gathering sizes; banned live entertainment; issued a statewide mask mandate and a No Mask, No Service rule for businesses.
Nearly all King County schools – including the Snoqualmie Valley School District – reversed course and will now start the school year with all remote learning
In King County, testing began ramping up in mid-June, as businesses began reopening. From June to July testing in Snoqualmie (city limits) increased 131% and in North Bend it almost doubled. At the peak of the outbreak in March, Snoqualmie reported 16 new cases with a 12% positive test rate – a time when testing was very limited.
Neither North Bend nor Snoqualmie have reported new hospitalizations or deaths since May. There has been one Snoqualmie Valley death during the pandemic, an unincorporated North Bend resident.
See the King County COVID-19 Outbreak Dashboard for all data.
Snoqualmie Positive COVID-19 Case Demgraphics through 8/12/20
North Bend Positive COVID-19 Case Demographics through 8/12/20
Comments
This couldn’t have anything to do with the crowds of closely-grouped einsteins massing on riverbanks, trailheads, etc, in recent weeks, could it? Naaaahh! Everything’s fine, yeah get your broods together and all head to the same place at once!
UUUUGH.
Stop f*cking this up, people.
I’d say that’s likely a part of it. A lot of those folks are visitors so they wouldn’t count among our numbers, but they could easily bring it with them.
The other part of it, is probably the laissez faire attitude that’s been prevalent here for a while now. The insistence that the valley is doing so much better than the rest of the county, we deserve our own re-opening plan, the citizens that seem to share that philosophy that I see gathered in Si View park on a near daily basis w/o masks or distance, and the occasional staffer at – lets say, QFC – who apparently doesn’t have to wear a mask around the hundreds of people and products he interacts with daily.
Or maybe not. Maybe those things aren’t a problem.
Ha yeah right they are going to do whatever they want, land of morons
It would be helpful to know where the cases are occurring- ie in a family? In a high risk worker? Is there any contract tracing happening? Is it just all over the place?
In some prisons up to 60% of inmates are testing positive but very few are symptomatic so it would also be helpful to know how where the cases discovered?
In order to make informed decisions we need more data
We have reached out to King County Public Health for more information regarding contract tracing for the uptick in Snoqualmie Valley cases this week.
Over the last 16 days you are adding 1.5 cases per day for Snoqualmie + North Bend. And you are blaming outdoor gatherings were you see on the rivers? All those people and 1 case per day..,
They really need to ban gathering at Si Basketball and skate board park. Are parents not worried that these teenagers will bring it home? You don’t have rights if you refuse to take responsibility for your actions.
I thought the narrative was that we were flattening the curve to avoid overwhelming the hospitals, but overall should be trying to achieve so-called herd immunity. Since the hospitals seem to be keeping up, it should be great for teenagers to acquire immunity.
Herd immunity, by definition is between 70 and 90% infected. For covid 19 it is assumed to need to be closer to 90%. That would mean, for Snoqualmie, 13,000 residents would need to be infected. That would mean, if just 1% die, 130 people would die. Are you really willing to accept that? Especially since there is no evidence yet that immunity will occur or for how long. One current theory is that immunity may last as little as six months… doing irresponsible things on the assumption that you would be helping the community is self-serving… You should reconsider your position, especially your willingness to cause deaths. In the case of HIV, a person knowingly infecting another can result in assault or manslaughter charges.
Except it’s not even close to 1%.
And comparing healthy people playing in the sun to intentionally spreading HIV is false equivalence. Though it should be pointed out it no longer a felony in California.
So many deaths in Snoqualmie; such a tragedy.
This is not trend information. Learn what that means. This is a very uninformed piece and embarrassing to read. Daily hospitalizations and deaths is trend information, and is fully available in easy to read and report on format. Quit using propaganda techniques to try and scare people. The curve has been flat in Washington for many months. Everything should be open based on the actual science. Confused, look up washington cdc doh covid and pick the graph that involves epidemiologic curves, select deaths or hospitalizations… that’s real scientific story of what’s going on. Don’t be deceived.