As Spokane County approaches the 1,000 COVID-19 cases mark, community spread of the virus is deepening and worrying health care officials who have been trying to corral the highly contagious disease.

“We are seeing that close to 40% of our cases are not epi-linked, meaning they are community spread,” Kelli Hawkins, public information officer at the health district, said on Monday. “So we need to be vigilant about wearing our masks out in public and staying physically distant and staying home when we’re sick.”

Spokane County has had 998 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Monday, with 40 new cases confirmed over the weekend. So far, 53% of those who have had the virus have recovered.

Community spread makes efforts to “box in” the virus challenging because epidemiologists cannot identify the source of infection for these cases. The majority of cases in the community continue to have epidemiological connections, meaning they are connected to another known positive case or an outbreak associated with a worksite or crowd setting.

The Spokane Regional Health District continues to build up its contact tracing forces with volunteers trained by Eastern Washington University public health faculty. Soon, volunteers and health district staff together will make up a team of about 70 people.

Each confirmed case reported to the health district by the state leads to an investigation, usually opened by a health district staff member or epidemiologist, who will conduct the initial case interview. From there, close contacts of a confirmed case are called and asked to isolate for up to two weeks, monitor symptoms and potentially get tested, too. Contact tracing efforts have kept health district staff incredibly busy in recent weeks.

On Monday, for example, 22 new cases were confirmed by the regional health district. Ideally, all 22 of those residents will be contacted within 24 hours and asked to isolate, monitor their symptoms and recall their close contacts.

There are eleven county residents in local hospitals receiving treatment for COVID-19. However, state data shows that 24 beds are occupied in local hospitals for COVID patients, meaning 13 patients from outside the county are receiving treatment here in Spokane.

Other parts of Eastern Washington are faring worse. In Yakima, 61 COVID patients are hospitalized, accounting for nearly 20% of licensed beds in the hospital there. The state goal for hospitals is to keep COVID occupancy below 10%. In Benton and Franklin counties, 62 COVID patients are hospitalized, according to state health department data.

On Monday, 100 prisoners and 41 staff members at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell have tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 1,775 inmates will be tested, although the Department of Corrections has yet to release a testing plan. One prisoner from Coyote Ridge has died from the virus. The department is transferring inmates who need medical care to Airway Heights Corrections Center, where a regional care facility has been set up. Currently there are 16 inmates there. Eight inmates are hospitalized due to the outbreak at Coyote Ridge, and six of them are in Spokane area hospitals. The other two are in Tri-Cities area hospitals, according to a department spokeswoman.

Last week, Spokane County Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz worried hospitalizations could increase. That’s among the reasons he balked at the push to move the country to Phase 3 of the reopening plan. Hospitals agreed with Lutz over the weekend.

“While we have capacity at our hospitals, we do not support starting the process to move into Phase 3 reopening because it has the potential to put undue stress on our health care system and put a greater number of individuals at risk,” a statement from Providence Health Care said.

There were no deaths from the virus during the weekend in Spokane County, and many of the new cases reported are in younger people, who may not experience severe symptoms.

Hawkins encouraged Spokane residents to continue to adhere to physical distancing and wear face coverings when they are in public.

“We have concerns, and we’re not ready to move to Phase 3 yet, and we are trying to emphasize the importance to our community of following the measures,” Hawkins said.