Providence St. Peter Hospital sees a record 10 COVID-19 deaths in 24 hours

Ten people died of COVID-19 at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia in a 24-hour period from Wednesday to Thursday, Sept. 15-16, Thurston County Public Health and Social Services is reporting.

While the final cause of death has not officially been reported, those that died were hospitalized with COVID-19 and were reported to be unvaccinated. This is Providence’s largest single-day death toll since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a county news release.

“My heart goes out to the family members and loves ones who have lost someone to COVID-19,” said PHSS director Schelli Slaughter. “This is a tragedy to our community. We support and appreciate all the front-line healthcare workers who have provided unrelenting dedication to caring for their patients, and we know they are grieving and exhausted.”

As of Thursday, Providence had 91 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at its Olympia and Centralia hospitals combined. Of those 91 patients, 18 were fully vaccinated and 73 were not. Twenty-three patients were in critical care due to COVID-19 at the two facilities, and 18 of them were on ventilators. Only one of the 23 critical care patients was fully vaccinated, the county said in its news release.

Thurston County reported 19 hospitalizations and nine deaths due to COVID-19 in the previous seven days, bringing the total of Thurston County residents lost to COVID-19 in the month of September so far to 20.

Thurston County’s 14-day case rate is 462.5 cases per 100,000 people.

The Washington state Department of Health (DOH) estimates that 98.8 percent of all current COVID-19 cases in Washington state are due to the highly contagious Delta variant. The Delta variant is responsible for 73% of all vaccine breakthrough cases in fully vaccinated individuals.

County officials say all three available vaccines are safe and very effective at preventing moderate to severe cases of COVID-19, hospitalizations, and deaths, even against the Delta variant. Health Officer Dr. Dimyana Abdelmalek continues to encourage Thurston County residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Thurston County is experiencing COVID-19 transmission, hospitalizations, and deaths that are far outpacing our levels from the previous peak we experienced last winter,” she said in the news release.

“Our region’s hospitals are reaching their capacity limits for acute care beds and ICU beds due to a sustained increase in COVID-19 cases. It is imperative that as a county we get vaccinated, mask up, and take other preventative measures against COVID-19. This ensures our health care providers are able to take care of our sickest patients.”

Individuals seeking a COVID-19 vaccine can visit the DOH Vaccine Locator tool online or by calling the COVID-19 helpline at 800-525-0127. Language services are available.

More COVID-19 information is available on the Thurston County Coronavirus website.