Thurston County added 1 death, 187 COVID-19 cases last week. Is virus activity rising?
Thurston County added one death and 187 cases last week as disease activity continued to increase this month.
A man in his 70s died due to COVID-19 on July 15, according to data from Thurston County Public Health and Social Services. The county reported another death on Tuesday, a man in his 80s who died on Monday, bringing the number of Thurston County residents who have died of COVID-19 to 99.
The 187 cases from last week and 30 additional cases announced Tuesday bring the county’s total case count to 11,442. Weekly case counts have increased over the past three weeks from the most recent low of 107 the week starting June 28.
The latest state data indicates disease activity has been increasing in Thurston County the past few weeks as well. The data show Thurston County saw 96.2 cases per 100,000 people from June 28 through July 11. This is up from a case rate of 75.6 from June 21 to July 4, the most recent low.
People younger than 40 accounted for most of the cases last week, according to a PHSS report. People 19 and younger made up 20% of cases, those 20-29 made up 21% of cases, and those 30-39 made up 20% of cases, the data show.
Overall, those 20-29 make up the largest portion of total number of cases at 21%, per the data. Meanwhile, those 19 and younger and 30-39 each come in second with 18%.
Since the first case was recorded in March 2020, 688 people have been hospitalized and 11,076 people are considered recovered or recovering as of Tuesday, according to county data.
Vaccinations in Thurston County continued their sluggish pace this past week. The state reports just 52.8% of county residents have initiated vaccination while 48.6% have been fully vaccinated.
This means most of the county is still not fully vaccinated. The first vaccinations started in December 2020.
When discounting those under 16, state data show 62.9% of Thurston adults have initiated vaccination while 58.1% have been fully vaccinated.
With these percentages, the county continues to fall short of its goal of at least initiating vaccinations in 70% of the 16 and older population. The state reached this goal on July 14 — about two weeks after the state largely reopened.
Health Officer Dimyana Abdelmalek once again encouraged residents to get vaccinated during a Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday. She said the three available vaccines have been proven to help protect against the more transmissible Delta variant.
“What we’re seeing across the country and in Washington state is the vast majority of cases are in folks that are unvaccinated,” Abdelmalek said. “The Delta variant does pose the highest risk to those who haven’t been vaccinated and haven’t been infected with COVID-19.”
Abdelmalek said it remains to be seen if the Delta variant causes more severe disease but its high transmissibility is a cause for concern.
Although masks are no longer required in many settings, Abdelmalek has asked all residents to continue masking in public indoor settings until 70 percent of the population is vaccinated.
Thurston County PHSS is continuing to offer free vaccination events every week. Events are listed on their coronavirus vaccine information website. Although no longer required, people are still encouraged to pre-register for these events through the state’s PrepMod website.
Residents also can find appointments at local providers such as pharmacies by visiting the state’s Vaccine Locator website. Many supermarket pharmacies are taking walk-ins for vaccines.
Those who have difficulty scheduling appointments online can call the Department of Health vaccine hotline at 888-856-5816 or the Thurston County Public Health and Social Services line at 360-867-2610. Information for Spanish speakers is available at these numbers as well.
In the region
▪ Pierce County confirmed 52,111 total COVID-19 cases with 627 deaths as of Tuesday.
▪ Grays Harbor County has seen a total of 4,690 confirmed and probable cases with 78 deaths as of Sunday, according to state data.
▪ Lewis County Public Health & Social Services has seen a total of 5,453 confirmed and probable cases with 80 deaths as of Sunday, per state data.
▪ Mason County reported 2,351 confirmed cases with 37 deaths as of Tuesday.
In the state, nation and world
The state of Washington had reported a total of 462,577 COVID-19 cases and 6,056 deaths on Tuesday.
In the U.S., 34.2 million cases had been reported as of Tuesday with more than 609,500 deaths.
Globally, over 191.3 million people had contracted the virus and more than 4.1 million people had died of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, the data show.
