21 Thurston residents die due to COVID-19 in past week as case count remains high
Thurston County confirmed 21 residents died and 743 contracted COVID-19 in the past week.
Twelve men died due to COVID-19 including one in his 30s, four in their 50s, five in their 70s, one in his 80s and one in his 90s. Nine females died, including one between 10-19, one in her 50s, one in her 60s, three in their 70s, two in their 80s and one in her 90s.
The cases and deaths were added from Sept. 20-26. The female between 10-19 who died is the youngest Thurston County resident to have died due to COVID-19, according to the data from Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.
There have been 17,590 cases and 171 deaths in the county from March 2020 to Sunday, per PHSS. The county considers 16,067 cases recovered or recovering as of Monday — meaning 1,523 cases are still active.
Weekly case counts have been higher than 600 for the past eight weeks as the delta variant continues to spread. With the latest 743 cases, the county just missed its record of 746 cases from Sept. 6-12.
The county’s two-week case rate increased to 471.1 per 100,000 people between Sept. 6-19 after dipping to 458.1 between Sept. 1-14, per the latest complete data from the state Department of Health.
The recent record high case rate was 521.3 between Aug. 11-24, the data show.
About 25.2% of molecular COVID-19 tests returned positive results between Aug. 24-30, according to the latest state data. This is the highest test positivity rate the state has ever reported for Thurston County.
The state stopped updating testing data on Sept. 15. PHSS says the state Department of Health plans to increase capacity so it can process increasing testing data volumes.
Testing has been in high demand in recent weeks, PHSS director Schelli Slaughter said. PHSS offers testing at various locations throughout the county, but this is limited to people with symptoms or who may have been exposed by a close contact.
People also can get tested at pharmacies such as Rite Aid and Walgreens, but appointments may be limited. Over-the- counter COVID-19 antigen tests also are available at pharmacies.
Hospitalizations
Thurston County hospitals struggled with capacity over the past week with no sign of meaningful improvement.
All intensive care unit beds were in use as of Tuesday morning, PHSS director Schelli Slaughter said during a Board of County Commissioners meeting. Meanwhile, acute care hospitals beds were 96% occupied.
“We continue to have a shortage of staff beds and critical staffing levels at our hospitals,” Slaughter said.
There were 51 COVID-19 positive patients in local hospitals as of Tuesday morning, Slaughter said. She said 23 patients were on ventilators.
The state’s latest complete data show the county had a hospitalization rate of 13.4 per 100,000 people between Sept. 12-18. This is down from a peak rate of 19.6 between Aug. 20-26, per the data.
Since the start of the pandemic, PHSS data show 1,128 people with COVID-19 have at some point been hospitalized.
Vaccination progress
Just 55% of all Thurston residents were fully vaccinated as of Saturday, Sept. 25 and 60.1% had initiated vaccinations, per state data. The county’s total vaccination percentages have increased by single-digit percentage points in the past week.
State data indicates 71.2% of Thurston residents 16 and older have initiated vaccinations and 65.2% have been fully vaccinated.
As of Monday, 76.4% of the state population 12 and older had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 69.7% had been fully vaccinated. This percentage includes aggregate data from the Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs, both of which are not entirely reflected in the state’s data dashboard.
For comparison, 70% of Thurston County residents 12 and older have initiated vaccinations and 64% had been fully vaccinated as of Sept. 24.
Certain groups of people became eligible for a third dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine after a state Department of Health announcement Friday.
Slaughter said the following people should get the booster dose: people 65 and older, those 18 and older who work in a long-term care setting and people 50-64 with underlying medical conditions or increased risk for social inequities.
Additionally, two other groups of people may receive the booster dose: those 18-49 with underlying medical conditions and people 18-64 who work in settings with a high risk of COVID-19 exposure and transmission.
Slaughter said the latter group can include first responders, educators, grocery workers, transit workers, food and agriculture workers, manufacturing workers and people who work in correctional facilities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention keeps an updated list of eligible occupations on its website.
Thurston County PHSS continues to offer free vaccination events every week. Events are listed on their coronavirus vaccine information 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 had confirmed 81,112 total COVID-19 cases with 761 deaths as of Monday.
▪ Grays Harbor County has seen a total of 7,435 confirmed and probable cases, with 104 deaths as of Sunday, according to state data.
▪ Lewis County has had a total of 8,787 confirmed and probable cases with 118 deaths as of Sunday, per state data.
▪ Mason County has reported 3,781 confirmed cases with 55 deaths as of Monday.
In the state, nation and world
The state of Washington has reported a total of 649,284 COVID-19 cases and 7,528 deaths from the beginning of the pandemic to Sunday.
In the U.S., over 43.1 million cases had been reported as of Monday with more than 690,400 deaths.
Globally, nearly 232.3 million people had contracted the virus and over 4.7 million people had died of COVID-19 as of Monday, the data show.
This story was originally published September 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
