Thurston confirms 724 new COVID-19 cases in past week, its highest ever
Thurston County confirmed 724 new COVID-19 cases in the last week, the most it has ever reported in a single week.
However, no new deaths were reported in the past week.
The new cases include 203 reported on Aug. 4 and 92 reported on Aug. 5. However, some of those cases are as old as July 25 because they came from a data backlog from the Washington State Department of Health, according to Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.
Due to the way these numbers are reported in the state’s system, PHSS cannot identify how many cases are from a reporting backlog, according to county spokesperson Magen Johnson.
However, even if all the cases from both days were considered backlogged cases, the remainder for the week would be 429 cases — the fourth highest weekly total case count.
Previously, the most COVID-19 cases PHSS had ever confirmed in a single week was 485 cases the week of Dec. 7-12, 2020. The most cases reported in 2021 was 457 cases the week of May 24-30.
Twelve more people have been hospitalized in the past week due to COVID-19, bringing the total number of hospitalizations to 748.
Since the first COVID-19 case was recorded in March 2020, the county has reported 12,611 cases and 102 deaths, Monday data shows. In all, 11,517 COVID-19 patients are considered recovered or recovering, per the data.
State data indicates Thurston County’s case rate reached 246 per 100,000 people between July 19 and Aug. 1. 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 the latter half of January, according to state data. However, the data show the most recent peak was 239.5 from April 19 to May 2.
About 11.8% of COVID-19 tests in Thurston County returned positive results from July 26 to Aug. 1, the data show. That’s nearly 6 times the state’s target of less than 2%, and significantly higher than the most recent low of 3% from June 21-27, per the data.
Slim majority now vaccinated
Most of the county has been fully vaccinated as of Saturday — a feat that took about eight months since the first doses became available.
Just 50.1% of the total county population has been fully vaccinated and 54.6% have initiated vaccinations, per the data. The county’s total vaccination percentages have increased by less than a single-digit percentage point in the past week, continuing a sluggish trend.
For those 16 and older, state data indicates 59.7% have been fully vaccinated and 64.8% have initiated vaccinations. So, the county continues to fall short of its goal of initiating vaccinations in at least 70% of this population.
The state as a whole reached 70 percent on July 14 — about two weeks after the state largely reopened.
On Aug. 2, the state announced 69.6% of the population 12 and older had received at least one vaccine dose. For comparison, 63.5% of Thurston County residents 12 and older have initiated vaccinations and 58.3% 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 75.7% of its 17,340-population having initiated vaccination as of Saturday, the data show. More notably, the data indicates 69.4% 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 55,395 total COVID-19 cases with 636 deaths as of Monday.
▪ Grays Harbor County has seen a total of 5,003 confirmed and probable cases, with 82 deaths as of Sunday, according to state data.
▪ Lewis County Public Health & Social Services has reported a total of 6,004 confirmed and probable cases with 83 deaths as of Sunday, per state data.
▪ Mason County reported 2,529 confirmed cases with 39 deaths as of Friday.
In the state, nation and world
The state of Washington reported a total of 495,338 COVID-19 cases and 6,177 deaths as of Tuesday.
In the U.S., more than 35.9 million cases had been reported as of Tuesday with more than 617,500 deaths.
Globally, 203.7 million people had contracted the virus and more than 4.3 million people had died of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, the data show.
This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 10:06 AM.
