
COVID-19 outbreaks
This dashboard is no longer being updated. The final update was done November 4, 2021.
Public Health interviews people who test positive for COVID-19 (cases) and investigates outbreaks.
This page shows the number of outbreaks that Public Health identified across various settings and the number of cases associated with each type of setting. In addition, a table shows the number of outbreaks identified by month (listed by the month when Public Health was first notified of the outbreak).
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Outbreak definitions
Categories are mutually exclusive and a facility will be only included in one such category. Cases considered epidemiologically linked (epi-linked) to an outbreak share common characteristics, including but not limited to, close contact to a confirmed case, shared environment, or common exposure.
- Childcares; including early learning programs, home childcare centers, and school-based childcare centers.
- K-12 schools include both private and public schools.
For this category, an outbreak is defined by the following criteria:
- 3 or more cases linked to the facility with epidemiologic link in a non-household setting.
- Places of worship; including churches, temples, mosques, and other faith-based organizations.
- Social gatherings including private events, weddings, parties and other large social gatherings.
For this category, an outbreak is defined by the following criteria:
- 2 or more cases linked to the facility with epidemiologic link in a non-household setting
For this category, an outbreak is defined by the following criteria:
- 2 or more cases linked to the facility with epidemiologic link in a non-household setting
- Manufacturing including food processing, construction, agriculture, and other manufacturing sites
- Food service establishments includes restaurants, fast food, taverns, and coffee shops.
- Retail, hospitality or recreational worksites including grocery or other retail, hotels or other hospitality services, gyms, and recreational/outdoor worksites.
- Shipping, delivery and utility worksites
- All other non-healthcare worksites, including office-based worksites.
For this category, an outbreak is defined by the following criteria:
- 2 or more cases linked to the facility with epidemiologic link in a non-household setting
- Includes non-K-12 schools, such as vocational programs, college or university programs.
- Dormitories or other college/university operated residences
- University of Washington's sorority/fraternity chapter houses
For this category, an outbreak is defined by the following criteria:
- 2 or more cases linked to the facility with epidemiologic link in a non-household setting
- Includes adult family homes, skilled nursing and assisted living facilities
For this category, an outbreak is defined by the following criteria:
- > 1 facility-acquired COVID-19 infection in a resident
- > 2 COVID-19 infection in healthcare workers who were on site at any time during their exposure or infectious period
- Includes home health agencies
- Outpatient settings, including dialysis, primary care, dental and pharmacies
- For this category, an outbreak is defined by the following criteria:
- > 3 cases of COVID-19 infection cases in patients or HCW, with epi-linkage, AND no other more likely sources of exposure (who do not share a household, and are not listed as a close contact of each other outside of the workplace during standard case investigation or contact tracing) for at least 2 of the cases.
- > 3 cases of COVID-19 infection cases in patients or HCW, with epi-linkage, AND no other more likely sources of exposure (who do not share a household, and are not listed as a close contact of each other outside of the workplace during standard case investigation or contact tracing) for at least 2 of the cases.
- Including acute care hospitals and psychiatric hospitals
- For this category, an outbreak is defined by the following criteria:
- > 2 cases of COVID-19 infection in a patient 7 or more days after admission for a non-COVID condition, with epi-linkage
- > 3 cases of COVID-19 infection in HCW with epi-linkage AND no other more likely sources of exposure (who do not share a household, and are not listed as a close contact of each other outside of the workplace during standard case investigation or contact tracing) for at least 2 of the cases.
OR - A combination of > 3 cases of COVID-19 infection in HCW and patients with epi-linkage.
Limitations
The recent surge in cases has resulted in a heavy workload for Public Health staff, making it difficult to keep up with case investigations and increasing the likelihood that some outbreaks may be missed. Certain workplaces (such as healthcare facilities and larger work sites) may detect and report outbreaks to Public Health more reliably than others, so reported outbreaks do not reflect a complete picture of all outbreaks or associated cases.
Starting in August 2021, the outbreak investigation team shifted their priorities to focusing on LTCF, congregate settings, and school/childcare outbreaks. Decreases in outbreaks may be due to this change in prioritization.
In addition, in August 2021, the Case Investigation/Contact Tracing team has reduced questions regarding exposure settings, which may lead to a reduction in the number of potential outbreaks identified for investigation.
# of outbreaks | # of cases | Avg. cases per outbreak | ||
All outbreaks | 2,440 | 18,943 | 8 | |
Childcares, Extracurricular, and K-12 schools | Childcare and extracurricular | 216 | 1,179 | 5 |
K-12 schools | 114 | 625 | 5 | |
Community Outbreaks | Places of worship | 28 | 282 | 10 |
Social gatherings | 48 | 388 | 8 | |
Healthcare (non-LTC) | Acute care and psychiatric | 81 | 741 | 9 |
Home health agencies | 28 | 147 | 5 | |
Outpatient settings | 32 | 161 | 5 | |
Homelessness service sites | Homelessness service sites |
254 | 1,329 | 5 |
Long-term care or supported living | Long-term care facilities | 570 | 6,052 | 11 |
Supported living | 66 | 885 | 13 | |
Other congregate housing | Other congregate housing | 13 | 43 | 3 |
Other outbreaks | Correctional Facilities | 24 | 482 | 20 |
Senior living | 26 | 115 | 4 | |
University or colleges | University or colleges | 100 | 977 | 10 |
Worksites (non-healthcare) | Food service establishments | 170 | 702 | 4 |
Greek and Undetermined |
12 | 85 | 7 | |
Manufacturing | 282 | 2,519 | 9 | |
Other worksites (non-healthcare) | 91 | 498 | 5 | |
Retail, hospitality, and recreational worksites | 231 | 1,431 | 6 | |
Transportation, shipping, delivery and utility worksites | 54 | 302 | 6 |
Category | Sub-category | Not yet determined | 2020 | 2021 | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | ||||
All outbreaks | 9 | 2 | 87 | 96 | 39 | 64 | 131 | 121 | 108 | 181 | 193 | 236 | 171 | 110 | 132 | 179 | 85 | 43 | 72 | 141 | 87 | 54 | 1 | 2,440 | |
Childcare, Extracurricular, and K-12 schools | Childcare and extracurricular | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 34 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 18 | 19 | 11 | 4 | 13 | 30 | 9 | 10 | 216 | ||
K-12 schools | 4 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 32 | 12 | 1 | 8 | 18 | 10 | 114 | ||||||||||
Community outbreaks | Places of worship | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 28 | ||||||||||||
Social gatherings | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 48 | ||||||||||
Healthcare (non-LTC) | Acute care and psychiatric | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 81 | |||||
Home health agencies | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 28 | |||||||||||
Outpatient settings | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 32 | ||||||||||||
Homelessness service sites | Homelessness service sites | 6 | 34 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 21 | 29 | 19 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 34 | 20 | 8 | 254 | |||
Long-term care or supported living | Long-term care facilities | 2 | 2 | 56 | 42 | 21 | 23 | 31 | 30 | 15 | 31 | 62 | 76 | 52 | 13 | 3 | 18 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 28 | 22 | 18 | 1 | 570 |
Supported living | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 66 | ||||||||||
Other congregate housing | Other congregate housing | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | |||||||||||||
Other outbreaks | Correctional facilities | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 24 | |||||||||
Senior living | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 26 | |||||||||||||
University or colleges | University or colleges | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 13 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 100 | |||||||
Worksites (non-healthcare) | Food service establishments | 1 | 13 | 15 | 7 | 12 | 26 | 25 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 170 | |||||||
Greek and Undetermined | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 12 | |||||||||||||||
Manufacturing | 1 | 6 | 8 | 22 | 23 | 17 | 35 | 41 | 22 | 17 | 17 | 22 | 26 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 282 | ||||||
Other worksites (non-healthcare) | 2 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 91 | |||||||||
Retail, hospitality, and recreational worksites | 3 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 16 | 31 | 24 | 16 | 16 | 28 | 23 | 9 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 231 | ||||||||
Transportation, shipping, delivery, and utility worksites | 2 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 54 |
Details about sector outbreaks
Disclosures are limited to acute care hospitals with 5 or more cases among staff and patients
- Homeless service sites: Please refer to the weekly dashboard for more details
- Long-term care facilities: Please refer to weekly dashboard for more details
- Hospitals: Below are the hospital or acute care setting facilities with 5 or more cases among patients and staff.
Facility name | First notified to PHSKC | # of cases among patients | # of cases among staff | # of cases among patients and staff |
Swedish Medical Center | Oct 4, 2021 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
Harborview | Sept 19, 2021 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
Navos/Multicare | Sept 16, 2021 | 17 | 8 | 25 |
Fairfax Hospital | Sept 3, 2021 | 17 | 9 | 26 |
Harborview Medical Center | Aug 29, 2021 | 9 | 6 | 15 |
CHI Franciscan St. Francis Community Hospital |
Aug 27, 2021 | 0 | 8 | 8 |
UW Medicine - Northwest Hospital |
Aug 27, 2021 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
Multicare Auburn Medical Center |
Aug 6, 2021 | 11 | 3 | 14 |
Virginia Mason Medical Center |
July 13, 2021 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
UW Harborview | Mar 28, 2021 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
Virginia Mason Medical Center | Feb 12, 2021 | 2 | 10 | 12 |
St. Francis Hospital | Jan 26, 2021 | 23 | 23 | 46 |
Cascade Behavioral Health Hospital | Jan 21, 2021 | 38 | 3 | 41 |
UW Medicine Valley Medical Center | Jan 15, 2021 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
Fairfax Behavioral Health Hospital |
Jan 15, 2021 |
0 | 5 | 5 |
UW Medicine - Montlake | Jan 4, 2021 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
UW Medicine - Harborview Medical Center | Jan 1, 2021 | 0 | 11 | 11 |
Fairfax Behavioral Health Hospital | Dec 26, 2020 | 13 | 4 | 17 |
Virginia Mason Medical Center | Dec 14, 2020 | 8 | 15 | 23 |
UW Medicine - Northwest Hospital | Dec 3, 2020 | 18 | 13 | 31 |
UW Medicine Valley Medical Center | Nov 30, 2020 | 4 | 15 | 19 |
Swedish Medical Center, First Hill | Nov 13, 2020 | 0 | 20 | 20 |
Multicare Auburn Medical Center | Nov 6, 2020 | 15 | 13 | 28 |
Cascade Behavioral Health Hospital | Oct 6, 2020 | 15 | 14 | 29 |
UW Medicine - Harborview Medical Center | Oct 4, 2020 |
4 | 11 | 15 |
Swedish Medical Center, First Hill | Sept 29, 2020 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
Virginia Mason Medical Center | Aug 29, 2020 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
Swedish Medical Center, Cherry Hill | Aug 13, 2020 | 1 | 7 | 8 |
Cascade Behavior Health | Aug 12, 2020 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
UW Medicine - Northwest Hospital | March 10, 2020 | 8 | 1 | 9 |