Every Thurston County ZIP code has now seen COVID-19, but officials say local curve is flattening

As of Tuesday afternoon, Thurston County had recorded 103 residents with confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 since March 11. The three latest cases were announced Tuesday: a girl between the ages of 10 and 19, a woman in her 40s, and one in her 60s.

Of the 103 cases, just seven are being actively monitored by public health.

Thurston County Public Health & Social Services has marked the remaining 96 “recovered” or “recovering,” meaning they’re not in the hospital and are no longer being ordered to isolate — although that doesn’t mean they won’t have ongoing health problems as a result of the illness.

Of the 17 residents who’ve been hospitalized at some point due to COVID-19, 71% have underlying health conditions, the county reports. One Thurston resident has died so far: a man in his 80s with underlying health conditions.

No ZIP code untouched

The county released its weekly report of in-depth local COVID-19 data Tuesday, including statistics through Monday, April 26, when there were 100 confirmed cases. At least one resident in each Thurston County ZIP code has now tested positive for COVID-19 — last week, 98576 hadn’t yet seen a case.

The ZIP codes 98501, 98502, 98503, 98513, 98516, and 98579 all saw increases this week, the county reports. The two ZIP codes with the highest number of cases so far are 98503 and 98513, both of which are in the Lacey area and close to hard-hit Pierce County.

Last week, the county began sharing data on the race and ethnicity of people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19. For the 69% of cases in which ethnicity was known, a statistic stood out to local public health officials: That 17% of people here with COVID-19 identified as Hispanic, while the same demographic makes up just 9% of the local population.

The finding has prompted Thurston County Public Health & Social Services to work on outreach efforts in that population, Public Health Director Schelli Slaughter told The Olympian.

Flattening the local curve

The county is seeing a general slowdown in new, known cases. After a high of 31 new cases were announced the week of March 30, 13 new cases were announced the following week, then 12 the week after that. Last week, just eight new cases were announced.

Here’s a look at the last seven days:

• April 22: two new cases;
• April 23: no new cases;
• April 24: three new cases;
• April 25: one new case;
• April 26: no new cases;
• April 27: no new cases;
• April 28: three new cases.

The percentage of tests coming back positive also has dropped. Last week, 3% of 3,665 tests here had come back positive. This week’s report showed 2% of 4,347 tests had come back positive.

The trend, Slaughter said, is “encouraging” and public health is “hopeful,” even knowing there have surely been cases here that have gone uncounted.

People can spread the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 without showing symptoms, and testing criteria early on was restrictive — people who were tested tended to be the ones with the most severe symptoms, Slaughter confirmed. Still, what public health officials see here is good news.

“Our curve is flattening, and we are seeing a decline in the number of new cases,” Slaughter said in a phone interview with The Olympian Tuesday. “And that’s good.”

She credits a combination of factors: That people have been following the statewide Stay Home order, and that Thurston County officials took what she called “aggressive action” after seeing the virus’s rapid spread in King and Pierce counties.

We had the benefit of time, Slaughter said.

And, she said, the health care system here did a good job getting testing online quickly, given the supplies and capacity available. That doesn’t mean there is enough testing yet, she was quick to add — that’s an ongoing challenge that involves multiple factors, including availability of testing supplies, personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves, and lab capacity for timely processing.

The public health challenge is far from over: As testing capacity and availability increases and the state simultaneously dials back Stay Home, Stay Safe restrictions, Slaughter expects to see more cases. In the last week, Gov. Jay Inslee has announced plans to restart construction projects that were previously underway and reopen some outdoor recreation areas.

With Olympia being the state capital, the area sees traffic from all over Washington, Slaughter said. As the governor gradually dials back the Stay Home, Stay Safe order, it will be important for neighboring counties — and the entire state — to coordinate.

Acting Health Officer Dr. Diana Yu included a similar message in a letter to the community Tuesday:

“The bottom line is that it is not yet time to ease up on all our restrictions,” she wrote. “With our very mobile community, it will not take long for cases to be reintroduced into our community once movement starts up again.”

Preparing for what’s to come

The county is preparing for more cases in a few key ways: It has secured a downtown Olympia hotel as a quarantine and isolation site, Slaughter said. The site will be used to house people who don’t have a safe place to stay and either are waiting on test results or have tested positive and need to isolate. She declined to specify which hotel.

Thurston County Public Health also has multiplied its staff trained to do disease investigation and contact tracing.

Prior to the pandemic, Slaughter said four people worked on the team dedicated to disease control and prevention. No new hires have been made, but the department is using Medical Reserve Corps volunteers and staff from other Public Health programs. It has committed to having 38 people trained to do the work by next week, Slaughter said.

It’s also establishing “rapid response” teams within the county Public Health and Emergency Services departments to do testing at community sites and congregate care settings if needed.

For instance, if someone experiencing homelessness or in custody at the county jail were to test positive, the team could go to the area and test everyone, according to Slaughter.

Such a team has been deployed once so far, Slaughter said, about a month ago at a long-term care facility, which she declined to identify. There were people at the facility who reported symptoms consistent with the disease, Slaughter said.

A team did a “massive testing survey” and found no one was positive, she said.

There haven’t been any confirmed positive cases reported at long-term care facilities in Thurston County, as of Tuesday. For that, Slaughter partly credits that the county has been part of a “concerted statewide and local effort” to get personal protective equipment to all long-term care facilities and adult family homes here.

Around the region, state, nation, & world

Mason County reported one new confirmed case Monday, in a man in his 30s, bringing its total to 23. Just one of the residents with COVID-19 is hospitalized, in a hospital outside Mason, the county reports. Saturday, the county reported 19 of the residents with cases had returned to work or their normal routine.

The county reported its first death over the weekend, a man in his 70s.

Pierce County continues to see an increase in cases. Tuesday afternoon, the county had reported 1,382 cases with 51 deaths.

Lewis County had reported 28 cases with three deaths as of its latest update, issued April 25, and Grays Harbor County was still reporting 12 cases.

Statewide, more than 13,600 cases have been reported with 765 deaths, according to the state Department of Health.

More than 3.1 million cases have been confirmed globally, according to Johns Hopkins University data, with the U.S. accounting for more than 1 million of them.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports more than 55,250 deaths in the U.S., with Johns Hopkins data showing more than 216,000 deaths worldwide.

This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 5:08 PM.