WSDOH Says Thanksgiving COVID Trends “Uncertain”

Much was made of how the Thanksgiving holiday could (or would) have a negative impact on rising COVID case rates in Washington state, most of it coming from the Washington State Department of Health; as well as state and even local officials.

However, Thursday Dec. 10th, a new release from the WSDOH said the impact of the holiday is "uncertain."

According to WSDOH:

"Because people’s decisions about whether to get tested or seek healthcare tend to change around holidays, case and hospitalization data over the week of Thanksgiving may not accurately represent disease activity. Therefore, the report uses data with a longer than usual lag time and reflects considerable uncertainty in the current situation."

It has been two weeks since the actual holiday itself. According to WSDOH and other health officials it can take up to ten days for COVID to 'show up' in a person who is exposed. That would result, according to their claims, in a large rise in positive tests earlier this week.  Following past holidays, WSDOH has been quick to report an alleged "spikes" in activity usually with a week or so, or at least within the ten days. But not in this case.

That, however, does not appear to have happened. According to WSDOH, 30 of 39 counties in our state saw rising rates during November prior to the holiday. They also passed on a variety of data points.

But it doesn't appear that the much ballyhooed explosion of cases occurred over the holiday as they feared.

Health Secretary John Wiesman said the state is "awaiting" the results to see if any rises in cases occurred from the holiday weekend. Perhaps it's because people actually did what the WSDOH was hounding them to do, and kept gatherings to a minimum or were safe about it. Hmmm...