Thurston County reports 13 new cases of COVID-19 Monday
Thurston County’s total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began rose to 936 Monday, when 13 new cases were announced.
Eleven cases are now associated with an outbreak at the county jail, with very few results from tests conducted there last week still pending, according to county Public Health officials. It’s unclear how many of the cases announced today are associated with the jail.
County Public Health and Social Services reported testing all inmates and staff — about 300 people in all — at the lockup last Tuesday, after an inmate was confirmed positive Aug. 17. As of Monday, results from fewer than 1% of tests conducted there were still pending, according to Magen Johnson, Thurston County Public Health’s COVID-19 spokesperson.
The department plans to retest all inmates and staff this Wednesday, according to Johnson.
The jail outbreak is one of seven ongoing congregate setting outbreaks in the county, according to Public Health. Along with the jail, the outbreaks are at two adult family homes, an adult group home, two long-term care facilities, and another congregate care setting about which the county has not shared any specific information.
After The Olympian asked for more data regarding the seven outbreaks, Johnson said the county will include a breakdown of cases per outbreak in its weekly in-depth report, beginning Tuesday, Sept. 1. That report also will include what type of facility the sixth outbreak is occurring in, Johnson said.
The 13 latest residents to be diagnosed with the disease are:
- A boy and girl between 10 and 19 years old;
- Three women and two men in their 20s;
- A woman in her 30s;
- Three men in their 40s;
- A man in his 50s; and
- A man in his 70s.
Of the 936 cases in the county, 12 have resulted in death, and 59 residents have been hospitalized at some point during the course of their illness. A total of 724 residents are considered “recovered” or “recovering,” meaning they’re no longer on Public Health-ordered isolation. However, they still may have experience long-term health problems as a result of COVID-19.
In the region
- Pierce County reported 23 new COVID-19 cases and one new death Monday, a man in his 80s from Puyallup with underlying health conditions. Its totals are now 6,461 cases and 143 deaths.
- Lewis County hadn’t updated its case count since Sunday, when its total was 135 with four deaths.
- Mason County announced 15 new cases, for a total of 315 total cases and one death. Mason County Public Health considers 54 cases to be active
- Grays Harbor County had 218 total cases with five deaths as of Sunday.
Around the state, nation and world
- Washington state’s Department of Health was reporting 71,371 COVID-19 tests have come back positive and 1,867 deaths, as of Monday.
- In the U.S., more than 5.7 million people had tested positive for the disease as of Monday and more than 177,000 people had died from it, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
- Globally, more than 23.5 million cases had been reported along with more than 811,000 deaths, as of Monday.
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 6:11 PM.
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