Two more deaths in King County; COVID toll hits 42 statewide

SEATTLE (AP) — Public health officials in the Seattle area are reporting two more COVID-19 deaths, bring the total statewide to at least 42.

Both additional deaths were residents of the Life Care Center of Kirkland, the suburban nursing home that has been the center of the outbreak in the hard-hit region. They were a woman in her 60s who died Saturday and a woman in her 70s who died Thursday.

That makes 29 coronavirus-related fatalities linked to the nursing home. There are more than 750 confirmed cases statewide.

Also, an emergency room doctor at a suburban Seattle hospital that has treated many people with coronavirus has contracted the disease.

EvergreenHealth Medical Center in Kirkland, Washington, said in a statement Sunday that the doctor was in “critical condition but stable.”

Dr. Liam Yore, the immediate past president of the Washington Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, told The Seattle Times the doctor was in his 40s. Yore told the newspaper the doctor had used personal protective equipment and that it was not known whether the physician contracted COVID-19 in the community or at work

Twenty-nine of the deaths in Washington state are linked to the Life Care Center of Kirkland, the nursing home at the center of the outbreak in the hard-hit region.