Another Thurston County resident has died of COVID-19, officials report
One more Thurston County resident has died of COVID-19 and one new case has been confirmed, county officials report, bringing the county’s total to three deaths amid 174 confirmed cases since the first case was announced in March.
The person who died is a woman in her 80s, according to county spokesperson Meghan Porter, and her death is connected with an outbreak of COVID-19 at Olympics West Retirement Inn in Tumwater. Porter could not confirm whether the woman was a resident of the facility or if she had underlying health conditions.
The latest county resident to be diagnosed is a man in his 30s, according to county data.
Of the county’s 174 cases, 143 are considered “recovering” or “recovered,” meaning the patients aren’t hospitalized and have been released from public health-ordered isolation.
Care facility outbreak update
At a county commission meeting and in a public letter Tuesday, Acting Health Officer Dr. Diana Yu provided an update on the ongoing care facility outbreak investigations.
As of Monday, 30 people connected to the outbreaks had tested positive for COVID-19, according to Yu. Six had been in the hospital at some point during their illness, Yu said, with four currently hospitalized.
Ten residents and 13 staff members have tested positive at the larger facility where there’s an outbreak, Yu said. From previous reporting, that facility has been identified as Olympics West.
Five people who are “close or household contacts” of staff members at Olympics West also have tested positive, according to Yu.
The woman whose death was reported Tuesday is the second person connected to this outbreak who has died. The first was a man in his 80s with underlying health conditions who was a resident at the facility. His death was reported Sunday.
A resident and two staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 at the smaller facility with an outbreak, Yu said — from previous reporting, that facility has been identified as Infinite Care Adult Family Home in Lacey. The resident who tested positive there already was terminally ill and passed away, Yu has said. A doctor did not believe the death was related to COVID-19, so it isn’t reflected in county data.
One of the staff members who tested positive works at both of the facilities, and four people connected to the outbreaks who tested positive aren’t Thurston residents and don’t count toward the county’s numbers, according to Yu.
County Public Health conducted a second round of testing at Olympics West on Monday and Yu expects results by Thursday.
“All cases and contacts are monitored daily and are on isolation and household members are on quarantine,” her letter reads.
The state Department of Health was reporting four deaths related to COVID-19 in Thurston County Tuesday, while the county was reporting three. County officials have said the discrepancy is due to the state including the death of the adult family home resident who died of causes unrelated to COVID-19.
In the region
Pierce County reported 12 new cases and two new deaths Tuesday, bringing their total number of cases to 2,071 and total number of deaths to 82. The two deaths were a Puyallup man in his 60s and a Parkland man in his 80s, according to the local health department; both patients had underlying health conditions.
Lewis County was reporting 37 cases with three deaths Tuesday, a number that has not changed since June 1.
Mason County had 38 confirmed cases and one COVID-19 related death, with two cases considered active.
Grays Harbor County was reporting 19 cases.
Around the state, nation and world
Washington state reported 24,354 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, with a total of 1,176 deaths, according to the Washington State Department of Health.
Nationally, the U.S. had 1.98 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 111,876 deaths as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Globally, more than 7.2 million people have tested positive for the disease with more than 411,000 deaths.
This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 6:42 PM.
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