COVID-19 cases across King County may be falling, but cases in Enumclaw are continuing on a steady trend.

As of Feb. 16, the city has seen a total of 610 coronavirus cases; figuring in a 2019 population estimate of roughly 12,000 people, this means about 5 percent of Enumclaw residents, or one in 20 people, have now contracted the virus.

Positive COVID cases hit an all time high in mid-December, but have fallen off a little since then, though the seven-day average case rate is staying steady between two and four cases a day.

Enumclaw continues to have a higher case rate than the county as a whole. According to the King County COVID-19 dashboard, roughly 4.5 percent of all tests come back positive in the county, while more than 7 percent of all test results come back positive in Enumclaw as of Feb. 18.

Although the city only experienced one additional hospitalization since February began, the hospitalization rate also remains higher than the county as a whole; King County’s hospitalization rate in 6.2 of all positive cases, whereas Enumclaw is up at 8.2 percent. Enumclaw’s total hospitalizations are up to 50.

There have been no new deaths to COVID-19 since December, leaving Enumclaw’s total death count at 29. However, the death rate is still higher than King County, with the county’s death rate at 1.7 percent of all positive cases, and Enumclaw’s hovering near 5 percent.

Enumclaw Mayor Jan Molinaro has said the city has seen real progress in fighting against the virus.

“The city has had 22 total hospitalizations from Oct. 21, 2020, to Feb. 14, 2021 compared to 24 hospitalizations Feb. 28, 2020, to April 15, 2020,” he wrote in an email interview. “That means in the beginning we had 24 hospitalizations in over 47 days. Compare that to more recent data and it took 117 days to get 22 hospitalizations. Good progress.”

Molinaro also noted that the city has seen a cumulative total of more than seven months without deaths out of an entire pandemic year, and that the vast majority of people who did get sick (91 percent) did not need hospitalization.

“The city continues to work on obtaining a mass vaccination site in partnership with St. Elizabeth and the Enumclaw Fire Department. The hindrance to obtaining this site is getting the supply of vaccines needed to have this become a reality. King County Health has the doses and we continue to seek a dialogue with them,” he continued. “We still encourage that the health guidelines be followed that have been established by the State of Washington and the CDC. If anyone wishes to be tested for COVID any number of test sites in King County are available for free, including here in Enumclaw, with no appointment necessary.”