*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***
September 16, 2020
1.5% Overall Percent Positive Rate
OKANOGAN – Okanogan County Public Health (OCPH) has posted results from the community COVID-19 testing events that occurred between August 13 and August 27, 2020 (see table below). This event was a success due to the large number of people who came out to be tested and OCPH would like to thank the community for their support. Please note, data are reported according to location where the test was administered, not according to the person’s place of residence. To view positive cases per city, please refer to the OCPH website (https://okanogancountycovid19.org/covid-19-data/).
Out of 2159 samples collected, 32 tests (or 1.5% of all tests) were positive. Thank you to all who participated; this testing event helped OCPH gather important information about the community spread of COVID-19. As of September 14, the incidence rate for Okanogan County is 44.5 cases/100,000/14 days.
Please remember, the community testing event captured only one point in time. A negative test result means that a person was negative for COVID-19 only at the time of the test. It is possible to be exposed and become positive within the next hour or day. A negative test should not cause anyone to stop taking precautionary measures like masking, distancing, or avoiding large gatherings of people. These practices remain critical to our ability to control the spread of COVID-19, and have significantly contributed to our decreasing county incidence rate.
This testing event was successful because of many partners and community members. We offer a special thanks to the Washington State National Guard, the volunteers who staffed the testing locations, the Washington State Department of Health, and the community members who came to get tested.
Although this community testing event is over, COVID-19 testing is still available in Okanogan County. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, or think you may have been exposed to COVID-19, contact your healthcare provider, or visit our list of providers who can help you get tested (https://okanogancountycovid19.org/symptoms-testing/).
