17 more Thurston County residents die of COVID-19 as case counts plummet to July levels
Thurston County confirmed 17 more deaths due to COVID-19 and 254 additional cases over the past week as virus activity has plummets.
Nine women are among the new deaths: one in her 50s, two in their 60s, three in their 70s, one in her 80s and two in their 90s. Eight men also died: one in his 50s, one in his 60s, five in their 70s and one in his 80s.
Public Health and Social Services confirmed the cases and deaths between Feb. 28 to March 6, but they did not necessarily all occur that week. In all, PHSS has recorded 44,721 cases and 337 deaths in the county from March 2020 to Sunday.
Of that total, PHSS considers 44,129 cases as recovered or recovering, meaning about 592 confirmed cases remained active as of Monday.
From Feb. 21-27, PHSS reported 625 cases and six deaths. The county’s weekly case count peaked at 3,899 cases the week of Jan. 17-23 during the height of the Omicron wave.
The county’s case rate per 100,000 people fell to 255.7 from Feb. 13-26 — a rate not seen since late July.
This rate fell from a record high case rate of 3,038 from Jan. 2-15, according to the latest data. This rate was far higher than the previous record of 527 from Aug. 18-31.
With disease activity declining, the state lifted its outdoor mask mandate on Feb. 18 and plans to ease its indoor mask mandates on March 12. On Feb. 25, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its mask guidelines based on new metrics. Under these guidelines, the CDC labeled Thurston County as low risk.
Outbreaks
The county reported it was investigating 22 ongoing outbreaks at congregate care settings as of Monday. So far, there have been 185 such outbreaks, with none added over the previous week.
The county reported no outbreaks in school settings since Feb. 21. Three closures involving 15 cases were reported the week of Feb. 14-20.
From Feb. 14-20, North Thurston Public Schools had two closures involving 12 cases. Meanwhile, the Olympia School District had one closure due to three cases.
Hospitalizations
PHSS confirmed there were no new hospitalizations over the past week. Since the start of the pandemic, the data show 2,122 Thurston County residents with COVID-19 have been hospitalized at some point in their illness.
About 75% of county residents who were hospitalized had a known underlying condition, according to a March 1 weekly report. However, it’s possible some had an unknown underlying condition.
Among the 320 who had died before Feb. 27, the report says 100% had a known underlying condition.
There were 7.9 hospitalizations per 100,000 people from Feb. 20-26, according to the latest state data. This rate fell from a record high of 37.8 from Jan. 9-15.
Hospitalizations increased significantly starting in early December during the onset of the Omicron wave. During the previous Delta variant wave, the county’s record was 19.9 between Aug. 20-26.
As of Sunday, 86.9% of Intensive Care Unit beds over a seven-day period were occupied in the West region, which includes Thurston County and some of its neighbors. The data show 13.1% of ICU beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients.
Hospitals in the region were 90.3% full over a seven-day period, per the data, while COVID-19 patients accounted for just 7.4%.
From February 2021 to January, state data show 56.9% of recorded cases (17,366) in Thurston County were in unvaccinated individuals. Meanwhile, 38.6% of cases (11,767) were in fully vaccinated individuals, per state data.
Across the state, those who were unvaccinated accounted for 69.8% (4,595) of all confirmed 12 and older COVID-19 deaths from Feb. 1, 2021, to Feb. 1.
Those partially vaccinated made up 5.1% (333) of deaths and those fully vaccinated made up 25.1% (1,655) of deaths, the data show.
PHSS does not share the vaccination status of those who die or are hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Thurston County because they do not have access to that data, a county spokesperson previously said.
Vaccinations and tests
In Thurston County, 64.8% of residents were fully vaccinated as of Saturday, and 71.6% had initiated vaccinations, per state data.
Meanwhile, the data show 75.7% of Thurston County residents 12 and older have initiated vaccinations and 68.5% had been fully vaccinated.
As of Feb. 28, 80.9% of the state population 5 and older had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 73.2% had been fully vaccinated.
The state percentages include aggregate data from the Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs, both of which are not entirely reflected in the state’s data dashboard.
In Thurston County, the state reports 58.4% of those 12 and older have received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Saturday. Across the state, about 58.1% of that population have gotten a booster.
Thurston County PHSS continues to offer free vaccination events, including for booster shots, every week. Events are listed on their coronavirus vaccine information website.
Eligible residents can also find appointments at local providers such as pharmacies by visiting the state’s Vaccine Locator website.
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.
People can get PCR tested at pharmacies. Over-the- counter COVID-19 antigen tests are also available at pharmacies and on-order from the state Department of Health and federal government.
In the region
Pierce County had confirmed 181,785 total COVID-19 cases with 1,256 deaths as of March 1. Pierce County has a population of about 927,000.
Grays Harbor County has seen a total of 15,994 cases with 190 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 17,253 confirmed and probable cases with 230 deaths as of Sunday per state data. Lewis County has a population of almost 83,000.
Mason County has reported 11,130 confirmed cases with 126 deaths as of Monday. Mason County has a population of about 69,000.
In the state, nation and world
The state of Washington has confirmed over 1.4 million COVID-19 cases and 11,890 deaths from the beginning of the pandemic to Sunday.
In the U.S., about 79.3 million COVID-19 cases had been reported as of Monday with over 960,100 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The U.S. population is about 330 million.
Globally, more than 447.3 million people had contracted the virus and over 6 million people had died of COVID-19 as of Monday, the data show.
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 2:08 PM.
