Thurston County adds 4 more COVID-19 deaths, 508 cases over last week
Thurston County confirmed Monday that four more residents had died of COVID-19 and 508 tested positive for the virus in the past week.
Two men died due to COVID-19, one in his 70s and one in his 60s, and two women, one in her 70s and one in her 40s. The cases and deaths were added between Dec. 13-19, according to data from Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.
The county’s weekly case count for the past week was higher than the previous week when PHSS reported four deaths and 385 cases.
There have been 23,915 confirmed cases and 250 deaths in Thurston County from March 2020 to Sunday, per PHSS. The county considers 22,976 cases recovered or recovering as of Monday — meaning 939 cases remained active.
State data for Thurston County indicates disease transmission has begun creeping upward again. The county’s two-week case rate rose to 291.1 per 100,000 people between Dec. 5 to Dec. 19. That number is still relatively low, compared to the Nov. 3-16 rate of 369 per 100,000 people.
The record high case rate in the county was 523 from Aug. 19 to Sept. 1.
The county reports it’s responding to nine ongoing outbreaks at congregate care settings. To date, there have been 110 such outbreaks.
In school settings, PHSS data indicates there was one closure due to COVID-19 outbreaks from Dec. 13-19. The closure involved four cases that affected the Olympia School District.
Five 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 1,470 people with COVID-19 have been hospitalized at some point.
The state reports the county had a hospitalization rate of 6.2 per 100,000 people between Dec. 13 to Dec. 19. This rate has been fluctuating after reaching a recent low of 5.5 from Nov. 8-14.
As of Sunday, about 86.4% 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 17.5% of ICU beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients.
Hospitals in the region were 91.7% full over a seven-day period as of Sunday, per the data, while COVID-19 patients accounted for 10.2%.
From February to November, state data show 73.8% of cases (10,405) in Thurston County were in unvaccinated individuals. Meanwhile, 21.4% of cases (3,009) were in fully vaccinated individuals, per state data.
Across the state, those who were unvaccinated accounted for 75.5% of all 12 and older COVID-19 deaths from Feb. 1 to Nov. 2. Those partially vaccinated made up 5.5% of deaths and those fully vaccinated made up 19% 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 60.3% of all Thurston residents were fully vaccinated as of Sunday, Dec. 19 and 65.7% had initiated vaccinations, per state data.
As of Dec. 19, 79.6% of the state population 12 and older had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 73.2% 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, 76.6% of Thurston County residents 12 and older have initiated vaccinations and 70.2% had been fully vaccinated as of Sunday.
The state reports 68,347 people (18.3%) in Thurston County have received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Across the state, over 1.6 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 103,583 total COVID-19 cases with 998 deaths as of Dec. 19. Pierce County has a population of about 927,000.
▪ Grays Harbor County has seen a total of 9,998 confirmed and probable cases, with 151 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 11,461 confirmed and probable cases with 185 deaths as of Sunday, per state data. Lewis County has a population of almost 83,000.
▪ Mason County has reported 6,779 confirmed cases with 89 deaths as of Sunday. Mason County has a population of about 69,000.
In the state, nation and world
The state of Washington has reported a total of 805,831 COVID-19 cases and 9,695 deaths from the beginning of the pandemic to Sunday.
In the U.S., about 51.2 million COVID-19 cases had been reported as of Tuesday with over 808,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The U.S. population is about 330 million.
Globally, more than 275 million people had contracted the virus and over 5.3 million people had died of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, the data show.
This story was originally published December 21, 2021 at 1:19 PM.
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