Editor’s note: The print version of the article reported 22 cases on Dec. 13. Updated information actually shows 21 cases being reported on that day.
Enumclaw set a new daily record for the number of COVID-19 cases last December.
Until the winter, Enumclaw’s record number of coronavirus cases in a day was 15, which was recorded March 28, 2020.
But as the number of cases appear to have grown exponentially starting last November, a new record of 21 cases was set on Dec. 13. This was followed by another 17 cases recorded on Dec. 16.
However, it’s possible — even likely — that increased testing in the city led to the new record being set, potentially indicating that the number of COVID-19 cases reported by King County in the city have been underrepresented.
The city of Enumclaw, in partnership with Mutual of Enumclaw and Public Health-Seattle & King County, set up a COVID-19 testing site on Dec. 10 right across the street from city hall.
The testing site remains open Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. for the foreseeable future.
According to King County data, a vastly increased number of Enumclaw residents began being tested for COVID when the testing site opened; on Dec. 11, 95 people were tested, followed by 140 people on Dec. 13 and a record 171 people on Dec. 16. There’s typically a 1 to 3 day delay in reporting when tests were taken and the results obtained, which explains why the data reported by King County appears to fall on days when the Enumclaw testing site was not open.
CURRENT NUMBERS
In total, Enumclaw has experienced 460 COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, though the majority of cases (299) have occurred between November and Jan. 1, 2021.
There have been a total of 43 hospitalizations, the majority of which occurred at the beginning of the pandemic in late March and early April. However, hospitalizations have picked up in recent months, with 14 being recorded between November and Dec. 25, 2020, the last recorded hospitalization.
The total number of coronavirus deaths is 28, most having occurred in the first couple months of the pandemic. The last death was recorded Dec. 19, 2020.
Enumclaw’s positive case rate, hospitalization rate, and death rate remain higher than King County as a whole.
