5 new COVID-19 cases in Thurston County. Health Officer shares causes for recent uptick
Thurston County Public Health and Social Services reported five new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday and no new deaths, bringing the county’s total to 1,229 residents diagnosed since the first case here was announced in March.
County data show the most recent residents to be diagnosed are:
- A girl between ages 10 and 19;
- A woman in her 20s;
- A woman in her 30s;
- A man in his 40s; and
- A woman in her 50s.
The number of residents considered “recovered” or “recovering” remained at 990 on Tuesday, the number of people who’ve been hospitalized at some point during their illness remained at 92, and the number of residents who have died remained at 17.
The county is still investigating an outbreak at a local adult family home that included five residents and 15 staff who had tested positive as of Sept. 24, according to the county’s most recent weekly data report.
What’s behind recent case trends
The county has seen what Health Officer Dr. Dimyana Abdelmalek called a “moderate uptick” in cases in recent days. This comes after a local slowdown in new diagnoses that prompted Abdelmalek last week to recommend schools start a slow, phased reopening of schools to in-person learning.
Abdelmalek said many of the recent cases are associated with travel, particularly out-of-state, along with household spread and spread between family and friends.
Through case investigation and contact tracing, Dr. Abdelmalek was able to determine half the people who tested positive in the last week were considered a close contact of a known COVID-19 case, spokesperson Magen Johnson confirmed with The Olympian.
“While ... we’re watching the situation with the rising case counts very closely, at this point it’s really limited to specific activities, like travel and ... close contact with friends and family,” Abdelmalek said.
The county has stayed in what’s considered a “moderate” transmission range, Abdelmalek said.
Tuesday, she said the rate of new cases had fallen to 22 per 100,000 residents over a 14-day period, which is considered “low” transmission, according to the state Department of Health’s school decision tree. But that rate doesn’t include the last several days’ spike in cases in Thurston County — state data on newly diagnosed cases per 100,000 residents was only up-to-date through Sept. 18. Abdelmalek said she suspects the county’s transmission rate will likely still be in the moderate range, meaning between 25 and 75 cases per 100,000 residents over 14 days.
One reason the number of new cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks had been lower than expected, she said, is that the Providence St. Peter drive-through testing site had been closed due to wildfire smoke.
In the region
▪ Pierce County announced 52 cases on Tuesday, giving the county 7,870 total. The county also reported three new deaths, bringing its total number of residents who have died to 174.
▪ Lewis County reported eight new cases, increasing the county total to 551. Four Lewis County residents have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
▪ Mason County announced three new cases Tuesday, bringing its total to 430 cases and four deaths.
▪ Grays Harbor County added five new cases and three new deaths to its totals Monday night, for a total of 510 confirmed cases and 10 deaths since the pandemic began.
Across the state, nation and world
Washington state had reported 87,042 cases on Tuesday with 2,124 deaths, according to the state Department of Health.
In the U.S., nearly 7.2 million cases and nearly 206,000 deaths had been reported as of Tuesday, Johns Hopkins University data show. Washington state ranks 23rd in the nation for the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19.
Globally, more than 33.5 million cases have been reported and more than 1 million people have died, the data show.
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