Spokane County Times

Spokane County Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz has told reporters that wearing masks has helped the positivity, hospitalization and death rates of COVID-19 patients fall in the county and even across the state.

As of Sept. 3, the county's seven-day rolling average totaled 32 cases per day. A month ago, the county averaged 84 cases per day, the Spokesman-Review reported. 

Behavior changes, including wearing masks in public areas, has caused the incidence rate to drop. In Spokane County, the rate has dropped from its peak of 229 cases per 100,000 residents to 102 cases per 100,000 residents. To reopen schools, health officials want the incidence rate to be between 25 and 75 cases per 100,000. 

“People need to continue to do the hard work because it’s only by that collective effort we’ll be able to get to the next level,” Lutz told the Spokesman-Review.  “We’ve nosedived, but that last little bit is often the hardest to reach. It will be a lot harder over the next couple weeks and months.”

Dr. John Wiseman, State Secretary of Health, instituted a statewide mask mandate on June 24. State officials said that the public is doing well at complying with orders out in public, but it is still difficult to enforce regulations in private gatherings.

“We just want to remind people that in our personal lives, we need to be taking the same kind of precautions,” Wiesman told the Spokesman-Review.

Hospitalizations have fallen, with 33 patients currently hospitalized with the coronavirus in county hospitals, 25 of them Spokane County residents.

“We’re headed in the right direction, and how optimistic we can be depends on each of us as individuals,” Wiesman told the Spokesman-Review.