7 more Thurston County residents die of COVID-19 amid slight uptick in cases
Thurston County confirmed seven more deaths due to COVID-19 and 210 additional cases over the past week — the second week of data since the state dropped its mask mandate.
Four women died: one in her 40s, one in her 50s and two in their 60s. Three men also died: one in his 70s and two in their 80s.
Public Health and Social Services confirmed the cases and deaths between March 21-27, but they did not necessarily all occur that week. In all, PHSS has recorded 45,247 cases and 358 deaths from the virus between March 2020 to Sunday.
Of that total, PHSS considers 44,932 cases as recovered or recovering, meaning about 315 confirmed cases remained active as of Monday.
From March 14-20, PHSS reported 139 cases and six deaths — lower numbers than last week, the second full week since the mask mandate had been lifted. The county’s weekly case count peaked at 3,899 cases the week of Jan. 17-23 and has generally been smaller each week since then.
The county’s case rate per 100,000 people dropped to 77.3 from March 6-19 — a rate comparable to late June and early July 2021. The record high case rate was 3,065 from Jan. 2-15, according to the latest data.
As of Sunday, the state still considers disease activity to be “moderate” in Thurston County. Though the state eased its indoor mask mandate on March 12, masks are still required in health care settings, prisons, shelters and public transportation.
Outbreaks and hospitalizations
The county was investigating 11 ongoing outbreaks at congregate care settings as of Monday. So far, there have been 187 such outbreaks, which is one more than the previous week.
The county has reported no outbreaks in school settings since Feb. 21.
PHSS confirmed six hospitalizations over the past week. Since the start of the pandemic, the data show 2,194 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 medical condition, according to a March 22 weekly report. However, it’s possible others had an unknown underlying condition.
Among the 351 who died as of March 20, the report says all of them had a known underlying condition.
Hospitalizations started falling in mid-January and have recently reached levels comparable to last summer.
There were about 5.5 hospitalizations per 100,000 people from March 13-19, according to the latest state data, up from a recent low of 2.4 which was recorded from March 7-13.
The current record high rate was 37.8, which was recorded from Jan. 9-15.
As of Sunday, about 85% 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 just 3.2% of ICU beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients in the region.
Hospitals in the region were 92.4% full over a seven-day period, per the data, while COVID-19 patients accounted for just 2.6%.
Vaccinations and tests
About 65% of all Thurston residents were fully vaccinated as of Saturday, and 72% had initiated vaccinations, per state data.
Meanwhile, the data show 76% of Thurston County residents 5 and older have initiated vaccinations and 68.8% had been fully vaccinated. In comparison, as of March 22, 81.2% of the state population 5 and older had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 73.7% 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 58.5% of those 12 and older have received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Saturday. Across the state, about 58.2% 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 also can 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 tests at pharmacies such as Rite Aid and Walgreens. 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 184,714 total COVID-19 cases with 1,303 deaths as of March 22. Pierce County has a population of about 927,000.
Lewis County has had a total of 17,467 confirmed and probable cases with 243 deaths as of Sunday per state data. Lewis County has a population of almost 83,000.
Grays Harbor County has seen a total of 16,151 cases with 195 deaths as of Sunday, according to state data. Grays Harbor County has a population of about 75,000.
Mason County has reported 11,297 confirmed cases with 137 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 12,361 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to Sunday.
In the U.S., about 79.9 million COVID-19 cases had been reported as of Monday with over 977,600 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The U.S. population is about 330 million.
Globally, more than 481.5 million people had contracted the virus and over 6.1 million people had died of COVID-19 as of Monday, the data show.
