1 new COVID-19 case in Thurston County Tuesday, ZIP code map updated
One new COVID-19 case was announced in Thurston County Tuesday, bringing the county’s total to 124.
The latest resident to test positive is a woman in her 30s, according to county data.
Thurston County Public Health & Social Services is actively monitoring just eight cases — one of the 124 has died, and 115 are considered “recovered” or “recovering.” Public health officials often clarify that the designation “recovered” does not mean a person won’t experience long-term health impacts from having the disease.
So far, 19 of the residents who tested positive have required hospitalization. At a county commission meeting Tuesday morning, Interim Health Officer Dr. Diana Yu said just one person is currently hospitalized.
Yu also offered a few new details regarding local youth who have been diagnosed with the disease: Six residents under age 18 have tested positive, she said, and five of them are 12 years old or younger. A 2-year-old is so far the youngest resident to be diagnosed, according to Yu.
All Thurston County children with confirmed cases “seem to be doing OK,” she said.
A map of confirmed cases in the county by ZIP code was updated Tuesday to include data through May 10. For the first time, it included a category of “20+ cases,” which only applies so far to ZIP code 98513 — an area that borders on hard-hit Pierce County.
Along with that ZIP code, five others saw an increase in the number of confirmed cases compared to the previous week: 98501, 98502, 98503, 98506, and 98579.
Updated data on race and ethnicity continues to show that certain populations are over-represented among local COVID-19 cases. Race and ethnicity are known for about 70% of cases so far.
While 9% of people in Thurston County are Hispanic, 20% of the cases for which ethnicity is known have been found in people who identify as Hispanic. Three percent of the total county population is black or African American, while 9% of local cases for which race is known have occurred in that population.
Status update from Thurston Public Health
The county still reports no outbreaks in congregate care facilities, such as nursing homes, which can quickly turn into hot spots if the virus that causes the disease is introduced.
Schelli Slaughter, director of Thurston County Public Health, said Tuesday that the local health care system’s capacity is stable and local hospitals report adequate personal protective equipment, such as gloves and masks — though she distinguished that the supply is not yet considered sufficient.
With non-urgent medical procedures scheduled to begin next Tuesday, Slaughter said hospitals plan to reserve 20-30% capacity in case there’s a surge.
The department’s recent work has been focused on preparing a move to Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s four-phase plan to reopen the state, Slaughter said. Among other efforts to prepare for that step, she mentioned increasing the local capacity for community-wide testing. The department is surveying local health care providers to assess “testing gaps,” she said.
“The target number of tests in Thurston County per day is 500, and our average over the last week was about 200,” she said. “So, we have some work to do around that, in partnership with our health care providers — and encouraging our public to get tested if they’re symptomatic.”
According to the current guidance from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms of COVID-19 include cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fever, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, and a new loss of taste or smell. Some people have reported other, less common symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
Weekly cases in Thurston County since early March
- The week of March 9: 4 cases
- March 16-22: 6
- March 23-29: 26
- March 30-April 5: 31
- April 6-12: 13
- April 13-19: 12
- April 20-26: 8
- April 27-May 3: 12
- May 4-10: 11
- The week of May 11 so far: 1
Around the region
Pierce County added 13 new cases Tuesday and one new death, giving the county a total of 1,725 cases and 63 deaths. The latest death was a Spanaway woman in her 60s with underlying health conditions.
Lewis County reported two new cases Tuesday — one in a resident in their 40s and one in a resident in their 50s. One of those residents has been hospitalized. The county’s total is now 32 cases with three deaths. The local health department considers 16 of the cases recovered.
Mason County added one case Monday, bringing its total to 29 confirmed cases and one death. Six cases are considered active.
A case originally assigned to Grays Harbor County was reassigned to Pierce County Monday, lowering its count to 13 confirmed cases. According to the local public health department, no new cases have been identified in Grays Harbor since May 7, when a Pacific Care and Rehabilitation Center patient was diagnosed.
“All of the patients receiving care from Pacific Care have been tested for COVID-19 and all the results are negative,” according to a news release from the department.
Around the state, nation and world
Washington state reported 17,330 cases with 962 deaths as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the state Department of Health.
The United States has reported more than 5 times as many confirmed cases than any other country (No. 2 Russian has 232,000) and has 2-1/2 times as many deaths (No. 2 United Kingdom has almost 33,000). Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University showed 1.37 million confirmed cases in the U.S. and more than 82,000 deaths as of Tuesday afternoon.
New York state’s death rate has slowed, but stands at more than 27,000. Sixteen states now have reported more than 1,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
Globally, there have been 4.25 million confirmed cases reported and more than 291,000 deaths.
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 5:25 PM.
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