Thurston County reports fifth care setting COVID-19 outbreak, 7 new cases Tuesday

Thurston County Public Health and Social Services has discovered a fifth congregate care setting outbreak and announced seven new COVID-19 cases, Tuesday.

According to county data, the seven patients who tested positive for COVID-19 are:

• A boy between the ages of 10 and 19;
• Two men in their 20s;
• A man in his 30s;
• A woman in her 40s; and
• A man and a woman in their 50s.

The county did not name any of the sites where there are outbreaks, but county health officer Dr. Dimyana Abdelmalek did describe them in her Letter to the Community as “two adult family homes, one adult group home, and two long-term care facilities.”

Also in her letter, Dr. Abdelmalek wrote the county’s major driver of infections is household spread, where one person infects others in the house they live in. Other main causes of infections, she wrote, are social gatherings and travel.

“The most important ways you can stay safe are maintaining six feet of distance with non-household members AND wearing a face covering, limiting social gatherings to ten people or less per week, and gathering outside when possible,” her letter reads.

Dr. Abdelmalek also urged county residents to be diligent when interacting with others. She said the county is in the “moderate” transmissions range for COVID-19 but, she stipulates it has a higher transmission rate than when it entered Phase 3 of the Safe Start Plan on June 24.

To enter Phase 3, the county needed to have less than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents over 14 days. According to her letter, “As of today, August 18, 2020, we show 51.4 new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 over the past 14 days.”

Since the first case was discovered on March 11, 868 county residents have gone on to test positive for COVID-19. Of those who have tested positive, 670 are considered “recovered” or “recovering,” by the county, 58 patients have been hospitalized for disease treatment at some point over the past six-months and 11 people have died due to complications stemming from the disease.

A Closer Look

Thurston County released the Weekly COVID-19 Update, revealing the areas of the county hit hardest by the disease and the demographics of those infected with it. The report is complete with data up to Sunday, Aug. 16.

According to the report, nine of Thurston County’s 12 zip codes had increase in cases over the past week. Those ZIP codes are:

• 98501 increased by eight cases last week to have 112 cases total;
• 98502 increased by one case last week to have 67 cases total;
• 98503 increased by 12 cases last week to have 102 cases total;
• 98506 increased by two case last week to have 33 cases total;
• 98512 increased by two cases last week to have 90 cases total
• 98513 increased by eight cases last week to have 113 cases total;
• 98516 increased by three cases last week to have 89 cases total;
• 98576 increased by five cases last week to have 23 cases total; and
• 98579 increased by two cases last week to have 45 cases total.
• 98589, 98597 and 98531 did not see increase in their case totals last week.

The demographics of COVID-19 patients in Thurston County continues to change. The county is continues to report as in its last Weekly Update, that Black residents make up 8 percent of the total cases, even though they only make up 3 percent of the county. Hispanic people are also over represented in cases, making up 26 percent of them while making up 9 percent of the county’s population.

White people however are now underrepresented in cases, making up 78 percent of cases while comprising 82 percent of the county’s population.

The update does state the Races of roughly 40 percent of the county’s COVID-19 patients are unknown and 43 percent of patients’ Ethnicity are also unknown as of Aug. 9.

The county also found younger people are being infected at higher rates compared to older county residents. Specifically, the county found Between the July 1 and Aug. 16, 13 percent of residents diagnosed with COVID-19 were between the ages of 0 and 17. Between March 11 and June, that group only made up 6 percent of diagnoses.

IN THE REGION

• Pierce County announced 53 new COVID-19 cases and one death on Tuesday. The county has had 6,129 residents diagnosed with the disease and 133 of them die from it.
• Lewis County reported two people, a person in their 20s and a person in their 40s, tested positive for the disease. A total of 284 people in the county tested positive for the disease and four have died from it.
• Mason County confirmed six new cases of COVID-19, bringing the county’s case total to 290 with one death. The county currently has 69 active cases of the disease.
• Grays Harbor County discovered five new cases Tuesday. The county has had 150 residents test positive for the disease and 3 die from it. currently their are 30 active cases in the county.

AROUND THE STATE, NATION AND WORLD

• Washington State’s Department of Health is reporting 68,264 cases of COVID-19 in the state and 1,809 deaths stemming from the disease.
• In the U.S., nearly 5.5 million people have been diagnosed with the disease and 171,636 people have died from it, data from Johns Hopkins University shows.
• Globally, almost 22 million people have tested positive for the disease with 777,018 dying from it.

This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 4:53 PM.