Thurston sees 2 more COVID-19 deaths, 196 cases
Thurston County confirmed two new COVID-19 deaths and 196 new cases in the last week.
A man in his 50s and a man in his 70s died due to COVID-19 on July 29, according to data from Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.
The case count from last week broke an upward trend in recent months, but it remains to be seen if cases will level out. The week prior, the county added 279 cases, which was the most it had seen in two months.
Since the first COVID-19 case was recorded in March 2020, the county has reported 11,887 cases and 102 deaths, Monday data shows.
Ten more people have been hospitalized in the past week due to COVID-19, bringing the total number of hospitalizations to 736. In all, 11,076 COVID-19 patients are considered recovered or recovering, per the data.
State data indicates Thurston County’s case rate continued to climb, reaching 162.9 per 100,000 people between July 12-25. This rate is up from the most recent low of 75.9 from June 21 to July 4, per the data.
The last time the county had a comparable case rate was around mid-May, according to state data.
About 7.9% of COVID-19 tests in Thurston County returned positive results from July 19-25, the data show. This percentage is higher than the state’s target of less than 2% and the most recent low of 3% from June 21-27, per the data.
Most of the county was still not fully vaccinated as of Saturday, according to the latest available state data.
Just 49.6% of the total county population has been fully vaccinated and 53.9% have initiated vaccinations, per the data. In the past week, the county’s total vaccination percentages have increased by less than 1 percentage point.
For those 16 and older, state data indicates 59.1% have been fully vaccinated and 64.1% have initiated vaccinations — still significantly below the goal of 70% at least initiating vaccinations.
The state as a whole reached 70 percent on July 14 — about two weeks after the state largely reopened.
On Monday, the state announced 69.6% of the population 12 and older had received at least one vaccine dose. For comparison, 62.8% of Thurston County residents 12 and older have initiated vaccinations and 57.7% had been fully vaccinated as of Saturday.
Thurston County continues to rank ninth out of 39 counties in vaccination rates, according to state data. The county is ahead of all its immediate neighbors, per the data.
San Juan County currently leads with 75.3% of its 17,340 population having initiated vaccination as of Saturday, the data show. More notably, the data indicates 68.9% of King County’s 2.26 million population has initiated vaccination.
Although masks are no longer required in many settings, Thurston County health officer Dimyana Abdelmalek continues to ask all residents to continue masking in public indoor settings until 70% of the population is vaccinated.
Thurston County PHSS is still offering 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 has confirmed 53,452 total COVID-19 cases with 635 deaths as of Aug. 2.
▪ Grays Harbor County has seen a total of 4,843 confirmed and probable cases, with 82 deaths as of Sunday, according to state data.
▪ Lewis County Public Health & Social Services has seen a total of 5,615 confirmed and probable cases with 83 deaths as of Sunday, per state data.
▪ Mason County reported 2,427 confirmed cases with 37 deaths as of July 30.
In the state, nation and world
The state of Washington reported a total of 475,881 COVID-19 cases and 6,127 deaths as of Monday.
In the U.S., 35.2 million cases had been reported as of Tuesday with more than 614,000 deaths.
Globally, 199.3 million people had contracted the virus and more than 4.24 million people had died of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, the data show.
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 12:05 PM.
