As COVID-19 infections continue to plummet, Washington health districts are making a few minor changes in the way they report daily cases.
Chris Skidmore, director of Whitman County Public Health, said Wednesday that following a directive from the Washington State Health Department, local health districts will shift away from contact tracing on individual cases to focusing on more congregate settings such as schools, prisons and long-term health care facilities.
Early on in the pandemic, health districts began reporting daily case numbers as well as deaths. State health department websites provide even more details, including the number of vaccinations in each county and infections in specific demographic groups, such as age and those in prisons or long-term health care facilities. Skidmore said cases have fallen sharply in the past few weeks, following the national trend of the omicron variant of COVID-19.
Tara Macke, spokeswoman for Public Health – Idaho North Central District, said that “at this time there has been no change in the direction provided by the state of Idaho regarding COVID investigations.” She also said until changes are announced to the department they will continue to investigate covid-19 as they have in the past and report all cases in their daily data.” (Lewiston Tribune)
