A month after the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Spokane County, local health officials have tallied 276 infections and 15 deaths associated with the disease.

While the number of total confirmed infections has been increasing daily, Spokane County Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz said the curve appears to be flattening.

“I do believe that the physical distancing people are doing is making an impact,” Lutz said Monday morning.

He expressed guarded optimism about the county’s data, which suggest the number of new daily confirmed cases peaked late last month.

The Spokane Regional Health District counted 21 new cases on March 27 and the same number on March 29, but the local infection rate appears to have slowed since then. Only 11 new cases were confirmed on April 12.

Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 also appear to have tapered since March, although 15 people with the disease were admitted to local hospitals last week. Twenty COVID-19 patients remained hospitalized in the county on Monday evening.

A woman in her 50s died of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the local death toll to 15.

The health district sorts cases by ZIP code, which has not revealed any local “hot spots” for the disease, Lutz said. Most cases have been in Spokane and Spokane Valley, the urban centers of the county, which Lutz said was expected.

Over the weekend, health officials confirmed additional cases among residents of the Spokane Veterans Home, a nursing facility at 222 E. Fifth Ave. As of Monday, one employee and 12 residents had tested positive for COVID-19. One resident died last week.

Health district officials and a team from MultiCare have been testing staff and residents in an attempt to halt the outbreak at the home. But a limited supply of testing kits has hampered that process. As of Monday, 31 of the facility’s 84 residents had been tested.

“We have ordered more testing kits from the state (Emergency Operations Center) and a local pharmacy so that we can do more testing in house, including for employees; however, with the shortage of testing kits they have not yet arrived,” Heidi Audette, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Veterans Affairs, said in an email.

Lutz said several staff members from the veterans home were tested over the weekend at the drive-thru testing site at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 23 employees had been tested as of Monday. One had tested positive, 14 had tested negative, and results were still pending for the remaining eight.

Lutz said he expected to receive more of those test results this week. He said the veterans home is following state and federal guidelines for long-term care facilities, including isolating residents who have tested positive.

Such facilities are a top priority for local health officials, as the new coronavirus can spread rapidly among employees and elderly residents, many of whom have serious underlying medical conditions.

On Monday evening, the Washington Department of Health was reporting 10,538 confirmed cases of COVID-19 statewide, including 516 deaths associated with the disease. Cases were confirmed in all but one county, Garfield, although 484 cases were not assigned a location.

Also Monday, Gov. Jay Inslee signed a proclamation granting new legal protections to Washington workers who are at high risk from COVID-19 due to age or a medical condition.

The proclamation, which is effective through June 12, says employers must use “all available options for alternative work assignments” to protect high-risk employees who request accommodations, including those 65 and older and those with chronic health conditions. Those options include telework and working from remote locations.

“If you can’t be accommodated, you have the right to not be on the job,” Inslee said at a news conference Monday.

Under the order, workers also can use any accrued leave if their employers can’t provide accommodations. If a worker runs out of paid time off, the employer is prohibited from cutting off health insurance benefits.

The proclamation also warns employers against taking “adverse” actions against high-risk workers, and says they can’t be permanently replaced for seeking health-related accommodations.

Inslee said high-risk employees should get their jobs back when Washington returns to “normal conditions.”