12 new COVID-19 cases in Thurston County. All but 1 is part of Olympics West outbreak
Thurston County Public Health and Social Services on Saturday announced 12 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. All but one is attributed to an outbreak at Olympics West Retirement Inn in Tumwater.
As of Saturday, a total of 16 cases had been identified at Olympics West, according to Public Health Director Schelli Slaughter. One staff person and one resident became ill simultaneously and tested positive in results reported Wednesday, according to The Olympian’s previous reporting.
Seven residents and four staff account for 11 of the cases reported by the county Saturday, according to Slaughter, and three more staff people have tested positive but are not county residents so aren’t tallied in the local numbers.
One person associated with the outbreak at Olympics West is hospitalized, Slaughter said.
Thurston County Public Health and Social Services staff reports testing 139 residents and 62 staff at the facility Wednesday and Thursday, and Slaughter said Saturday’s results came only from tests conducted Wednesday.
People at the facility who are symptomatic or who have tested positive for COVID-19 have been ordered to isolate, according to Slaughter, while everyone else has been ordered to quarantine for 14 days to see if they develop symptoms. The public health term “isolation” refers to separating sick people with a contagious disease from people who aren’t sick, while “quarantine” refers to separating people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they get sick.
Staff members who have tested positive are isolated at home, while residents are isolated at the facility, Slaughter said. The origin of the Olympics West outbreak is still under investigation.
Test results from a second outbreak at a four-resident adult family home in Thurston County had not yet come back from the Washington State Public Health Laboratories in Shoreline as of Saturday, Slaughter said. The two outbreaks are linked by the Olympics West staff person who tested positive Wednesday and works at both facilities.
Slaughter said the second facility is Infinite Care Adult Family Home. Based on Washington Secretary of State records, Infinite Care is located in Lacey. The Olympian could not reach the facility Saturday.
As of Saturday, the staff member and one resident were the only COVID-19 cases confirmed at Infinite Care. The rest of the residents and staff have been tested, and Slaughter was hopeful that those results, along with the rest of the test results from Olympics West, would be reflected in county data released Sunday.
Because the Infinite Care resident who tested positive just recently developed symptoms, county Public Health believes the disease was transmitted there by the staff member who works in both facilities, according to Slaughter.
What the increase means for the county and Phase 2
These outbreaks were announced just as the state approved Thurston County to move to Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s four-phase plan to gradually re-open the state from restrictions that have been in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. The move has allowed some local businesses and activities to reopen under public health guidelines.
Thurston was able to apply for a variance to move to Phase 2 because there were fewer than 10 cases per 100,000 residents over a 14-day span. The governor has since expanded that criteria further, and the new standard is fewer than 25 cases per 100,000 over 14 days.
Variances can be revoked if data shows circumstances in a county have changed, according to the state Secretary of Health.
Slaughter said if the state were to use the standard at which the county was granted approval, Thurston’s “threshold” is 29 new cases over two weeks. If Thurston County hits that number, Slaughter said, it could prompt discussion between the county and state to decide whether the county can stay in Phase 2.
“That being said, a part of us being able to advance to Phase 2 was that we demonstrated that we had the capacity and capability to respond to a situation like this, and I’m confident that we do,” Slaughter said in a phone interview.
Because residents in long-term care facilities live in closed environments, the only way they can get COVID-19 is from staff who have contracted the coronavirus out in the community and brought it in. This outbreak “does not give us much wiggle room” to have more cases in the community, Slaughter said.
“Even though we’re in Phase 2, and it’s tempting to go out and see people, people need to be cautious, socially distance, and consider what is essential and what is important and make that calculated risk for themselves,” Slaughter said. “We’ve got COVID here.”
Also this week, Thurston County Acting Health Officer Dr. Diana Yu issued a directive requiring residents to wear face coverings in some public settings. The county says the rule won’t be enforced by police or sheriff’s deputies and has since posted a detailed Frequently Asked Questions document on the directive: https://bit.ly/2McUmsK.
Thurston’s biggest jump in cases to date
Saturday’s 12-case jump was the biggest increase in a single day in Thurston County since the first case was identified here March 11. The new cases brought the county’s total to 148.
Of those 148, 130 are considered “recovering’ or “recovered” and one has died, meaning county Public Health is actively monitoring 17 cases. A person is considered “recovering” or “recovered” if they’re not longer under public health-ordered isolation — they may still have ongoing health problems as a result of the illness.
The new cases were identified in a man and woman in their 20s, two women in their 40s, three women and a man in their 70s, two men and a woman in their 80s, and a man in his 90s. Slaughter said everyone but one of the people in their 20s was connected to the outbreak at Olympics West.
State Department of Health data on Saturday showed an additional COVID-19 death in Thurston County. Slaughter told The Olympian that the tally came from a person at Infinite Care Adult Family Home who had died; however, county Public Health did not believe the death to be COVID-related and the state’s count could be amended.
“Thurston County Public Health and Social Services will be working with Washington State DOH to further clarify,” Slaughter said. “We’ll provide more details as we have them.”
As of Saturday, state DOH data showed 21,349 cases of COVID-19 confirmed statewide with 1,118 deaths.
This story was originally published May 30, 2020 at 6:55 PM.
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