Thurston County adds 4 more COVID-19 deaths, 385 cases as transmission declines
Four Thurston County residents died of COVID-19 and 385 tested positive for the virus in the past week, Thurston County reported Monday.
Two women died due to COVID-19: one in her 70s and one in her 90s. Two men in their 70s also died. The cases and deaths were added between Dec. 6-12, according to data from Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.
The county’s weekly case count for the past week was significantly lower than the previous week when PHSS reported four deaths and 507 cases.
There have been 23,407 confirmed cases and 246 deaths in the county from March 2020 to Sunday, per PHSS. The county considers 22,319 cases recovered or recovering as of Monday — meaning 1,088 cases remained active.
State data for Thurston County indicates disease transmission recently has been on a downward trend. The county’s two-week case rate fell to 278 per 100,000 people between Nov. 21 to Dec. 4 after reaching 369 from Nov. 3-16.
The record high case rate in the county was 523 from Aug. 19 to Sept. 1.
The county reports it’s responding to seven ongoing outbreaks at congregate care settings. To date, there have been 107 such outbreaks.
In school settings, PHSS data indicates there were five closures due to COVID-19 outbreaks from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5.
Three closures involving 10 cases affected the Olympia School District, one closure involving three cases affected the Rainier School District, and one closure involving seven cases affected the Tumwater School District.
Seven people were hospitalized with a confirmed case of COVID-19 over the past week in Thurston County, per PHSS. Since the start of the pandemic, the data show 1,459 people with COVID-19 have been hospitalized at some point.
The state reports the county had a hospitalization rate of 8.9 per 100,000 people between Nov. 28 to Dec. 4. This rate has been fluctuating after reaching a recent low of 5.5 from Nov. 8-14.
As of Friday, about 85% of ICU beds over a seven-day period were occupied in the West region, which includes Thurston County and some of its neighbors. The data show 20.2% of ICU beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients.
Hospitals in the region were 89.4% full over a seven-day period as of Sunday, per the data, while COVID-19 patients accounted for 10.1%.
From February to October, state data show 75.4% of cases (9,462) in Thurston County were in unvaccinated individuals. Meanwhile, 19.7% of cases (2,474) were in fully vaccinated individuals, per state data.
Across the state, those who were unvaccinated accounted for 75.1% of all 12 and older COVID-19 deaths from Feb. 1 to Nov. 2. Those partially vaccinated made up 5.7% of deaths and those fully vaccinated made up 19.2% of deaths, the data show.
PHSS does not share the vaccination status of those who die due to COVID-19 in Thurston County because they do not have access to that data, a county spokesperson previously said.
Vaccinations and tests
Just 60% of all Thurston residents were fully vaccinated as of Saturday, Dec. 11 and 65.3% had initiated vaccinations, per state data. The county’s vaccination rate increased by less than 1 percent over the past week.
Meanwhile, the data show about 77.5% of Thurston residents 16 and older have initiated vaccinations and 71.3% have been fully vaccinated.
As of Dec. 6, 81.2% of the state population 12 and older had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 74.9% 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, 76% of Thurston County residents 12 and older have initiated vaccinations and 69.9% had been fully vaccinated as of Saturday.
The state reports 53,201 people (18.3%) in Thurston County have received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Across the state, over 1.3 million people have gotten a booster.
Thurston County PHSS continues to offer free vaccination events every week. Events are listed on their coronavirus vaccine information website.
Eligible residents 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.
There have been no updates to COVID-19 testing data since Sept. 15. PHSS says the state Department of Health paused this data release to increase capacity so it can process an increasing number of tests.
The DOH does not expect to restart its reporting of testing data until about Dec. 30 due to an “unexpected delay,” according to its data dashboard.
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. Over-the- counter COVID-19 antigen tests also are available at pharmacies.
In the region
▪ Pierce County had confirmed 97,894 total COVID-19 cases with 942 deaths as of Dec. 6. Pierce County has a population of about 927,000.
▪ Grays Harbor County has seen a total of 9,825 confirmed and probable cases, with 149 deaths as of Sunday, according to state data. Grays Harbor County has a population of about 75,000.
▪ Lewis County has had a total of 11,323 confirmed and probable cases with 184 deaths as of Sunday, per state data. Lewis County has a population of almost 83,000.
▪ Mason County has reported 5,635 confirmed cases with 81 deaths as of Monday. Mason County has a population of about 69,000.
In the state, nation and world
The state of Washington has reported a total of 793,757 COVID-19 cases and 9,580 deaths from the beginning of the pandemic to Sunday.
As of Nov. 24, the state estimated its effective reproductive number over time was 0.83 on Nov. 18, indicating the number of infected people has been decreasing. This metric measures the average number of new people that one COVID-19 positive person infects.
In the U.S., about 50.1 million COVID-19 cases had been reported as of Monday with over 798,500 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The U.S. population is about 330 million.
Globally, more than 270.7 million people had contracted the virus and over 5.3 million people had died of COVID-19 as of Monday, the data show.
