Here are charts for Washington State counties. These charts rely on the New York Times’ published data on COVID-19 in the United States. I am primarily use their county-level data set together with population estimates (Wikipedia reports on US Census data from 2019).
I have produced charts of new cases of COVID-19 as
- 7-day trailing averages
- scaled to cases per 100k.
Google sheets link
All of my charts and tables are shared in a public Google sheets document:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kNc6XTZSKerv5-Uk2kgoMUXPQHPjHKsLq0fMSZMkyuw/edit?usp=sharing
Charts
Washington state
There is a growth in counted cases nation-wide. Taking these number at face value, I would point out that the rate of growth exceeds that of the July and April in slope.
Washington state is not an exception in the shape of its curve. Still, though, it continues to maintain a solid margin below the national average. In the past 14 days, the average count of new cases per 100k has stayed about 13.9 lower than all of the USA.
On November 7th, the trailing average of new cases per 100k for the nation is 32.6 new cases a day. For the Washington, it is 16.2.
King county trends above the state average for the first time since May
For the first time in six months, King county is just above the state average with a trailing average of 16.8. This change started in the beginning of November with a jump in cases.
All counties ranked by trailing average case per 100k as of 11/7/2020
Here is a ranked list of all counties as of 11/7/2020. I have added the nation and Washington State as a whole to help contextualize the numbers. Garfield is at the top of this list, but only due to the small population of around two thousand.
Walla walla’s case count has been higher than the US average and trends upward
In my prior analysis, Walla walla county showed a sharp increase in new COVID-19 cases. This trend has continued without any downturn. Since 10/22/2020, Walla walla county’s count of new cases has surpassed even the US average. A visual inspection of the past 14 days shows a consistently growing margin between the US average and the county.
Adams and Asotin county have also exceeded the national average
Benton has hit the national average
Benton county has had an aggressive slope since the start of November and has now hit the national average.
Spokane county (523k) has remained above average for 2 months
Looking into the past, Spokane county stands out with a steady position above the state average for 2 months.
Whitman county shows recovery to the norm
Whitman county has managed to bring down its new cases count dramatically. In the past two weeks it dropped from an average of 32 cases per day down to 14. Although there is a small uptick in the past few days.
Notes
I chose trailing averages and scaled to population (“per 100k”) to help readers identify how COVID-19 is trending in each chart and to allow readers to make fairly direct comparisons county-to-county.
These charts compare each county against the entire state. This allows us to say whether or not a county has generally been doing better or worse than the rest of the state. I am using the trailing averages and trend line comparison to mitigate the way that testing patterns have changed since the early months.
I have refrained from speculation about the reasons for each county’s performance in this post and concentrated on simple language: above vs below average and a month to month comparison.
Links
Google sheet of WA counties
Google sheet with all King County cities
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16HXKTs5ZPGFnli3FRcTALsA40CovxCQoS-JF2GrETaY/edit?usp=sharing
