The national coronavirus caseload continues to soar, with 18 states setting single-day records last week according to the COVID Tracking Project.

The United States continues to lead the world in overall case numbers, as the most recent (July 27) map from Johns Hopkins University shows:

But while we lead in overall case count, we rank 10th in case frequency (not counting the two cruise ships), with one case for every 75 people per this table from the Worldometer Coronavirus Information page (ranked by cases per X people, second to last column), and fourth overall in deaths per 100,000 population according to the latest numbers as reported by Johns Hopkins University.

Closer to home, Thursday marked four months since the governor announced the state’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order. Since then, COVID-19 cases in Washington have risen from 2,000 to more than 50,000, and deaths have increased from 110 to nearly 1,500 and more than 5,000 Washingtonians have been hospitalized with COVID-19 as the following overview from the Washington State Department of Health illustrates:

“For those who have recovered, we are only beginning to learn about how their lives have been different going forward,” Gov. Inslee said in a Friday briefing, at which he also announced rollbacks in several reopening guidelines. “Some people report long recoveries; others report persistent respiratory and other chronic medical issues.”

Inslee added that the number of COVID-19 cases would have “overwhelmed the state” if not for Washingtonians taking the challenge head-on, both in government and in their communities.

The tentative good news is that daily new cases have been declining for the past few days, offering some hope that the renewed emphasis on masking and social distancing is have a positive effect.

Daily new hospitalizations across the state do not reflect this, however, and continue to show an upward trend, as do cumulative hospitalizations over the full reporting period.

On the downside, the latest death numbers show a return to the pattern of the past few weeks, after hopes were raised by several days of lower counts.

Source data for Monday’s report come from the following:

• The Snohomish Health District COVID Count web page.
• The Washington State Department of Health COVID Dashboard.
• The Washington State COVID Risk Assessment Dashboard
• The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus data page
• Worldometer Coronavirus information page

— By Larry Vogel