(The Center Square) — The Washington State Coronavirus Response website will be decommissioned Dec. 1 in an effort to streamline online information, the Washington Department of Health announced Monday.
Visitors will be redirected to the DOH COVID-19 page, and public health information will be migrated to other state agency sites as needed.
Site traffic on the COVID-19 Response page has diminished, according to the DOH. Washington’s COVID-19 state of emergency was lifted by Gov. Jay Inslee as of Oct. 31.
“DOH remains committed to supporting all Washington state communities in the fight against COVID-19 and urges everyone to stay up to date on their vaccinations to prevent severe illness,” the department said in a statement.
The state’s 7-day case count of COVID-19 cases was just over 4,000 as of Nov. 14, down from the pandemic-high of over 138,000 cases in January. The case level persisted at around 2,000 from May through mid-July, according to DOH data.
COVID-19 testing in Washington currently averages about approximately 9,400 tests per week. Daily vaccinations averaged about 14,600 per day as of Nov. 19, down from approximately 23,000 per day in October.
The DOH continues to offer free COVID-19 tests to Washingtonians, though the agency is temporarily out of stock.
“Due to overwhelming demand, we’re currently out of free COVID-19 tests. We are so sorry for this inconvenience. We should be restocked within the week,” the DOH announced on Twitter.
The DOH will provide up to 10 free COVID-19 home test kits to residents each month through the end of 2022. The federal government ended its support for the program in August. The department has provided 12.5 million test kits in Washington, according to a DOH statement.
Residents can still buy rapid tests. Those with health insurance can have up to 8 tests per member reimbursed by insurance, the DOH reports.
