Although I’m posting about music technology again, I still track the local COVID-19 situation. This disease, unfortunately, is still out there with months to go until a safe, tested vaccine.

The Washington State Department of Health web site is changing the way it counts and reports negative tests. The DOH site has left us blind about testing for over one week; they promise to have negative test results beginning August 24. I will do a major revision of my own when the new data are available.

In the meantime, here is a graph of the daily positivity rate for Washington State using data from the University of Washington (UW) Virology Lab. UW does not break down test results by county, age, etc. It’s strictly specimens in, results out.

The State as a whole did quite well — for a while. The positivity rate for King County, the most populous county, is around 3 percent. Not bad. UW performs tests for the entire state and reflects problem areas elsewhere, notably Yakima and a few other agricultural areas. Snohomish county, where we live, is running at 5 to 7 percent — nothing to brag about and misses the state target (2 percent).

This situation demonstrates how one populous county can make a state appear better or worse overall. People outside of King County should check their local statistics and not feel comfortable thinking that COVID-19 is in check. Don’t ride on someone else’s coat tails!