Thurston COVID-19 cases rise to 472 after county announces 17 more on Saturday
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to rise sharply, with Thurston County announcing 17 more cases on Saturday.
The 17 cases now gives the county 94 for the week, already surpassing the previous weekly high of 80 cases with one more day to go.
A number of young people continue to contract the virus, according to Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.
Of the 17 cases announced Saturday, they included a man in his 80s and two women in their 60s, but everyone else was 50 or younger, including children, the county data show.
Those 20-29 now account for 20 percent of the overall number of cases, which was 472 as of Saturday.
“This week, we have seen a significant increase in COVID-19 cases,” said Dr. Dimyana Abdelmalek, Thurston County Health Officer, in a letter to the community. “Many of the people who are getting sick are younger adults. This can be attributed to this age group attending more gatherings, being too close to others, and traveling throughout the state and outside of the state.”
Of the 472 cases, 303 people are recovering or have recovered, 41 have been hospitalized at some point in their illness, five have died and there have been two congregate care setting outbreaks at Olympics West Retirement Inn in Tumwater and Infinite Care Adult Family Home in Lacey, according to the county.
The county data show there is no longer an ongoing COVID-19 situation at either Olympics West or Infinite Care.
In the region
▪ Pierce County announced 121 cases on Saturday and one death, a woman in her 70s from Parkland who had underlying health problems.
▪ Lewis County now has 131 cases and three deaths.
▪ Mason County has 79 cases and one death.
▪ Grays Harbor County now has 61 cases and one death.
Around the state, nation and world
As of Sunday, Washington state had more than 46,026 cases with 1,444 deaths, according to the state Department of Health.
The U.S. had reported 3.75 million cases and more than 140,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Globally, there had been 14.4 million cases and more than 603,000 deaths, as of Sunday.
This story was originally published July 19, 2020 at 9:46 AM.
