SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. – On Monday, the Spokane Regional Health District reported 201 new cases and one additional COVID-19 related deaths.
This brings the county to a total of 27,862 cases and 373 deaths.
Over the weekend, SRHD reported 1,242 new cases. New Year’s Day saw 671 new positive cases which was almost a record-breaking single-day increase.
The largest single-day increase was reported on December 8, 2020 with 684 cases.
According to SRHD spokesperson Kelli Hawkins, the New Year’s Day increase was largely due to backlog.
“At least half of these positives were because Washington state department of health was cleaning up the back up cases they had from labs, we know that about 200 were linked to Airway Heights Corrections Center, and of the total back log there is about 300 is still left for about 3 hundred and some cases,” Hawkins said. “Still a high day for us.”
At last update, the Airway Heights Corrections Center has 1,413 positive COVID-19 cases and two deaths. Around 80 percent of the inmate population has tested positive.
So far, 2021 accounts for five percent of total cases Spokane County has seen since the beginning of the pandemic in March.
