MY EDMONDS NEWS Posted: January 5, 2021 883 Welcome to 2021, and our newly-formatted COVID report. For the new year we have eliminated some charts and tables, added some new ones, and streamlined our reporting on local numbers to better utilize the available data. Our aim continues to be to provide you – our readers – with a one-stop-shop to gain a comprehensive overview of progress in fighting the pandemic at all levels, with a special focus on our state, county and local communities.
The first week of the new year finds the world continuing to reel from an onslaught of rising COVID cases and deaths, exacerbated by the runaway spread of a new, more virulent virus strain. First discovered in the U.K., where it now the dominant form of the virus, the mutant quickly spread to other countries including the U.S., with reported cases now in Colorado, California, Florida and New York. So far, no cases of the new variant have been reported in Washington state. While it is significantly more contagious, there is no evidence that it causes more severe symptoms, is more deadly, or is resistant to the new vaccines.