Here are the Thurston County ZIP codes that saw higher COVID-19 cases per capita
ZIP codes in east Thurston County saw more COVID-19 cases per capita than their western neighbors during the last two weeks.
The county logged 3,632 new cases of the virus from Jan. 3-9 and 2,126 cases from Dec. 27, 2021, to Jan. 2. Previously, the most COVID-19 cases Public Health and Social Services confirmed in a week was 743 from Sept. 20-26.
Disease activity surged over the winter holidays as the more transmissible Omicron variant spread. As a result, Gov. Jay Inslee activated 100-non-clincial National Guard personnel to assist hospitals overflowing with patients.
ZIP codes in northeast Thurston County — 98513, 98516 and 98503 — had the highest cases per capita from Dec. 27 to Jan. 9, according to PHSS data analyzed by The Olympian.
With a population of 36,450 and 863 cases, ZIP code 98513 had the second most cases over that two-week period. Yet, it also had the highest cases per capita.
ZIP code 98501, which includes Olympia and Tumwater, had the second highest case count during the same period. However, it is the most populous ZIP code, so it ranked sixth when considering cases per capita.
Notably, ZIP code 98513 had a 57.3% fully vaccinated rate compared to the 71.9% rate in 98501 as of Jan. 9.
Lacey’s primary ZIP code, 98503, had the third highest cases per capita and had a 61.6% fully vaccinated rate. PHSS reported 933 cases among this area’s 40,045 population over the two-week period.
Coming in at fourth, the ZIP code that includes Yelm, 98597, had a high case count relative to its 25,711 population. This region saw 583 cases over the two-week period and had a 45.2% fully vaccinated rate.
ZIP code 98576, which includes Rainier, had the fifth highest cases per capita with 102 cases among its 5,394 population.
However, vaccination rates do not clearly correlate with disease activity. Rochester’s ZIP code, 98579, ranked 10th in cases per capita and had the second lowest vaccination rate at 49.2%.
Meanwhile, ZIP code 98589, which includes Tenino, ranked 11th in cases per capita and only had 50.9% vaccination rate.
The only ZIP code with less cases per capita was 98531 — which is predominantly a Centralia ZIP code but reaches to Grand Mound and Bucoda in Thurston County. It saw 14 cases among its 2,628 population and had a vaccination rate of just 1.2%.
This story was originally published January 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
