Thurston County adds 15 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, updates ZIP code map
Thurston County Public Health and Social Services on Tuesday announced 15 more cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in residents, bringing the county’s total to 412 since the first case was announced March 11.
Continuing a recent trend, many of the new cases are in young patients. County data show the new residents to be diagnosed are:
- Two girls and two boys between ages 10 and 19;
- Two men in their 20s;
- Two men and a woman in their 30s;
- A woman in her 40s;
- Two men in their 50s;
- A man and a woman in their 60s; and
- A woman in her 70s.
New Thurston County Health Officer Dr. Dimyana Abdelmalek addressed the recent, sharp increase in cases at a county commission work session Tuesday morning.
“Many of these cases are related to private gatherings of families and friends, some of which occurred over the Fourth of July weekend,” Abdelmalek said. “Some are related to travel, and some are related to exposures in the workplace.”
She also said when one member of a household gets sick, other members are at high risk of also contracting the coronavirus. In response to a question from Commissioner Gary Edwards, Abdelmalek said nobody with the illness has mentioned a protest as an event that may have led to their being infected.
County Public Health Director Schelli Slaughter said Tuesday that the local rate of tests coming back positive has now risen to 2.2 percent from 2 percent, and that the positive rate has been even higher in recent days.
On Tuesday, the state Department of Health was reporting that, in the last week, 3.7 percent of individuals tested were positive in Thurston County — the state’s target for counties is 2 percent positive or lower. The county also was missing the mark on two of the state’s other four metrics used to determine county readiness to move between phases of reopening.
Of the 412 people diagnosed in Thurston since March, five have died due to complications related to COVID-19, 39 have been hospitalized at some point during their illness, and Public Health considers 277 “recovered” or “recovering.”
As of Tuesday, Slaughter said 12 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized at Providence St. Peter Hospital and Capital Medical Center, the two major hospitals in the county. Not all of the 12 are necessarily Thurston County residents, however.
An updated ZIP code map
The county released its weekly, more in-depth data report Tuesday, which includes statistics collected through Sunday, July 12.
An updated ZIP code map compared to last week’s map shows that the 80 cases reported the week that ended Sunday — the biggest single-week increase in the county yet — were spread out among several ZIP codes:
- 19 new cases were reported in 98501;
- 12 new cases were reported in 98502;
- 9 new cases were reported in 98579;
- 8 new cases were reported in each 98512 and 98516;
- 7 new cases were reported in each 98506 and 98513;
- 5 new cases were reported in 98597;
- 3 new cases were reported in 98503; and
- 1 new case was reported in each 98576 and 98589.
In the region
- Pierce County reported 68 new cases Tuesday and three new deaths, bringing its totals to 3,334 cases with 100 deaths. The latest deaths were a man in his 50s from Lakewood with underlying health conditions, a man in his 80s from Lakewood with underlying health conditions, and a man in his 90s from Puyallup with no major underlying health conditions.
- Lewis County added seven new cases to its total Tuesday. Two of the latest residents to be diagnosed are 19 or younger, one is in their 50s, and four are in their 70s. Two of the seven are hospitalized, according to Lewis County Public Health and Social Services. This brings the county’s total to 111 confirmed cases, with 34 considered recovered.
- Mason County announced three new cases, bringing its total to 68 cases with one death and eight cases considered active. The latest cases are in a man and woman in their 20s and a man in his 30s.
- Grays Harbor County added two cases Tuesday, for 50 cases total. The county’s Public Health and Social Services department previously reported 21 of those cases were announced in July, but the counts have been modified “to reflect the date of onset of illness for COVID-19 positive patients.” Its data now attributes 15 cases to this month.
Around the state, nation and world
- Washington state’s Department of Health reported a total of 42,304 cases of COVID-19 and 1,404 deaths related to the disease as of Wednesday.
- In the U.S., more than 3.5 million people have tested positive and about 137,000 have died because of the disease, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
- Globally, more than 13.4 million diagnoses had been reported and more than 580,000 deaths had been attributed to the virus as of Wednesday.
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Thurston County adds 15 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, updates ZIP code map."
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