Thurston County releases local COVID-19 testing data, map of cases by zip code
Thurston County Public Health and Social Services on Wednesday released a report that includes data not previously shared with the public regarding local testing for and confirmed cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by a new coronavirus that’s spreading in communities around the world.
These reports are now expected weekly, on Tuesdays, a county spokesperson told The Olympian. This first report comes about a week after county commissioners urged the Public Health department to start releasing more information on COVID-19 cases on a regular basis.
Data in the report covers the time period from March 11, the date the department first announced a Thurston County resident had tested positive, through April 12, at which point 80 residents had been diagnosed and one had died from health issues related to the illness.
Just one confirmed case of the illness in a Thurston resident has been confirmed since April 12, bringing the total to 81. As of Tuesday, 72 of the residents with confirmed cases were recovering or had recovered, meaning they were not in the hospital and had been released from public health-ordered isolation.
In a letter to the community Tuesday, Thurston County Acting Health Officer Dr. Diana Yu wrote that in recent cases, people are identifying fewer contacts because of social distancing and staying home. Public Health staff are still investigating positive cases and their identified contacts, she wrote.
“Thanks to all our sacrifices, we are doing well,” Yu wrote. But, she warned, that doesn’t mean restrictions should end.
“Whenever restrictions are lifted, we can expect a rebound increase in cases,” her letter reads. “We are still in the middle of a pandemic, and as long as the virus continues to spread anywhere, it can be reintroduced back into our community.”
COVID-19 testing in Thurston County
Nearly 3,300 Thurston County residents had been tested for COVID-19 as of April 13, according to the county report, and 2% of the tests had come back positive.
That’s much lower than the state’s most recent testing data, which shows that 8.7% of the more than 122,800 people statewide who had been tested had come back positive for COVID-19.
The testing statistic includes people who are symptomatic and have been tested after meeting testing criteria, Schelli Slaughter, director of Thurston County Public Health, cautioned at a meeting of county commissioners Tuesday.
“We do not have adequate testing to meet the demand statewide yet, but that is increasing,” Slaughter said.
The state Department of Health provided the county with testing supplies so it can deploy them in the event of an outbreak in a congregate care setting, such as a long-term care facility, jail, or shelter, Slaughter said, and so far, the county isn’t reporting any such outbreaks here.
Of the 13 Thurston County residents with COVID-19 who had been hospitalized at some point, 85% of them had underlying health conditions, according to the report. The one person who has died of related complications so far also had underlying conditions.
Public health officials believe older adults and people of any age who have serious underlying medical conditions are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
Zip code-specific data on COVID-19 case locations
As local public health officials have said before, confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been found all over the county.
The report shows confirmed diagnoses in residents living in all but one zip code within Thurston. Two zip codes in the Lacey area, 98513 and 98503, have seen the highest number of confirmed cases, with 10 or more each.
Local public health officials consider the county to be experiencing “community spread,” according to the report, which means they can’t identify how or where people who test positive were infected.
An important caveat
County data includes cases in people whose permanent address or address of record is in Thurston County, Slaughter told commissioners Tuesday. So, there may be people who work and live in Thurston who are getting care elsewhere included in the count. Conversely, there may be people with COVID-19 seeking care here who live elsewhere and aren’t included.
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 12:05 PM.
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