Thurston County ends week with 99 COVID-19 cases (but there’s some good news, too)
Thurston County ended the week with 99 confirmed new cases of COVID-19, the second highest weekly total since the county began tracking the outbreak here.
Despite the weekly total, however, there was a silver lining because Thurston County Public Health and Social Services announced only three new cases on Sunday.
That’s the lowest daily total since four cases were announced on July 9, county data show.
Sunday’s three cases were a woman in her 50s, a man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s, the data show.
The three new cases increased the overall county total to 677. Of those cases, 536 people have recovered or are recovering from the virus, 56 have been hospitalized at some point during their illness, eight have died and there have been two congregate care setting outbreaks in Tumwater and Lacey, both of which have been resolved, according to the county.
Yet there’s no disputing that confirmed cases of COVID-19 have grown higher the past few weeks, leading the Thurston County Health Officer to recommend that K-12 students stay home this fall.
“People who work and teach in our schools are diverse in their acute risk of severe illness from COVID-19,” said Dr. Dimyana Abdelmalek in her weekly letter to the community. “They vary in age and have different health conditions that can put them at higher risk. While children are less likely to become seriously ill from COVID-19, some children become profoundly sick, some even experience multisystem inflammatory syndrome where the brain, lungs, heart, and other organs can become inflamed. We are still learning about the long-term consequences of COVID-19 infection.”
In the region
▪ Pierce County announced 77 cases on Sunday, increasing its total to 5,059 cases with 116 deaths.
▪ Lewis County also announced new cases on Sunday, giving the county six more for a total of 196. The county is still reporting three deaths.
▪ Mason County has 162 cases with one death.
▪ Grays Harbor County has 95 cases with one death.
Around the state, nation and world
Washington state totals have grown to 57,541 with 1,592 deaths, according to the state Department of Health.
In the U.S., 4.7 million people had contracted the virus and more than 155,000 people had died as of Monday, Johns Hopkins University data show. Globally, 18.1 million cases and more than 690,000 deaths had been reported.
This story was originally published August 2, 2020 at 3:42 PM.
