13 new cases of COVID-19 increases Thurston County total to 802
Thurston County has now reported a total of 802 cases of COVID-19 after 13 more cases were announced Tuesday.
The new cases include a man in his 80s and a woman in her 70s, but everyone else was 50 or younger, including another child 9 or younger, according to Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.
The county has had 103 new cases in the past week, Public Health Director Schelli Slaughter said Tuesday during a county Board of Health meeting.
“We continue to see a concerning rise in our case rates,” she said.
The county demographic contracting the virus also has shifted from older to younger, Slaughter said.
Early in the pandemic, an older demographic was contracting the virus, but now the largest demographic with the most cases are those 20-29 at 21 percent. Those 19 or younger is at 14 percent.
“We stand by our recommendation to not have in-person learning (at K-12 schools), but distance learning in the county,” county Health Officer Dr. Dimyana Abdelmalek said at the Board of Health meeting.
Thurston County Commissioner Tye Menser asked whether “social gatherings” were still a leading cause of spreading the virus.
Social gatherings and the virus being spread at home continue to be leading causes, followed by community transmission at work or outside, although at a much smaller rate, Abdelmalek said.
Under questioning from Commissioner Gary Edwards, Abdelmalek said the county’s COVID-19 case fatality rate is 1.5 percent, which might seem low, except that the fatality rate from influenza is 0.1 percent.
“It’s a significantly bigger threat than the flu to our community and that’s why we are taking these mitigation measures as seriously as we are and making the sacrifices that we are,” she said.
A closer look at the data
Of the 802 cases, 657 people have recovered or are recovering, 58 people have been hospitalized at some point, 11 have died and there are three current congregate care setting outbreaks. Those locations have not been disclosed.
Black and Hispanic residents of the county continue to be over-represented in positive cases, Slaughter said. Black residents account for only 3 percent of the county population, yet they represent 8 percent of positive cases. Hispanic residents account for 9 percent of the population yet they represent 23 percent of positive cases, she said.
In the region
▪ Pierce County added 72 cases Tuesday and two deaths. It has reported 5,737 cases, and 128 deaths total. The two most recent deaths were women from Tacoma, both in their 80s with underlying health conditions.
▪ Mason County has 255 cases with one death.
▪ Lewis County announced seven more cases Tuesday and one death. This brings the total number of Lewis County residents who have tested positive to 243, and deaths attributed to COVID-19 to four. Of the new patients, one is under age 10, three are under age 20, and one each is in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. One of the seven was hospitalized Tuesday.
▪ Grays Harbor announce two new cases, bringing its total to 126 with three deaths.
Around the state, nation and world
Washington state had reported 64,151 cases and 1,716 deaths as of Wednesday, according to the state Department of Health.
In the U.S., nearly 5.2 million cases had been reported and 165,500 people had died of the virus as of Wednesday, Johns Hopkins University data show. Globally, 20.4 million cases and nearly 745,000 deaths had been reported as of Wednesday.
This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 5:45 PM.
