Coronavirus in Washington: Which demographics are most at risk as the virus spreads?

When the coronavirus outbreak hit Washington, it hit King County first. Since then, more than 1,300 of the county’s 2.1 million residents have tested positive for COVID-19.

King County Public Health released new data, revealing how many people have actually been tested and which demographic groups are testing positive the most. It’s part of a new public campaign the county launched Wednesday called Stand Together, Stay Apart.

The dashboard, where people can find demographic data about coronavirus cases, is updated daily after test results are reported to the Washington State Department of Health.

Overall, King County tested a total of 10,843 people as of Wednesday. Of those, 12.5% tested positive. Out of the 1,359 positive results, 100 people died — 7.4%.

Washington as a whole has tested 34,292 people. Ninety-three percent of those tested negative for coronavirus, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

King County Public Health’s data dashboard also includes the sex and age group of those who tested positive and negative.

Women tested positive more often than men, the dashboard says, although far more women have been tested than men. Of the 6,355 women tested, 689, or 10%, tested positive.

Of the 4,396 men tested, 621, or 14%, tested positive, according to King County Public Health.

These results are mostly consistent with statewide data, according to the department of health’s website. Over half of Washington’s confirmed cases affected women, and 54% of people who died after testing positive for coronavirus were women.

Men make up 46% of Washington’s confirmed cases, the department of health said. As of Monday, 44 percent of people who died after testing positive for coronavirus were men.

King County’s dashboard also breaks down the test results by age group. Ages of those tested range between less than a year old to 80-plus years old.

People who are 80 or older were most likely to test positive for coronavirus. Although that age group was the second least tested in the county, 37 % tested positive.

In Washington, those who were 80 years or older made up 14% of the state’s confirmed coronavirus cases. But 50% of the state’s deaths were in that age group, according to the department of health.

King County’s dashboard did not include how many deaths were reported after testing positive for the coronavirus.

In King County, the age group who was tested the most were 30 to 39 years old, the dashboard said. But out of the 2,164 people who were tested in that age group, 200, or 9%, tested positive for coronavirus.

Statewide, 30- to 39-year-olds made up 14% of Washington’s confirmed cases, according to the department of health. But there were no reported deaths in that age group.

The age groups that tested positive most in King County were 60- to 69-year-olds, 70- to 79-year-olds and those who were 80 or older. But in Washington as a whole, 50- to 59-year-olds made up a slight majority of the state’s cases at 17%.

Young people are in the minority when it comes to testing positive for coronavirus in King County. People ranging from less than a year old to 29 years made up only 10% of the county’s positive results.

As of Monday, no confirmed cases in people 39 years or younger in Washington have resulted in death, according to the department of health.

This story was originally published March 26, 2020 at 12:43 PM with the headline "Coronavirus in Washington: Which demographics are most at risk as the virus spreads?."