Thurston County adds 189 new COVID-19 cases but hospitalizations hold steady
Thurston County reported 189 additional COVID-19 cases over the past week as disease activity remains moderate.
No deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in Thurston County during the past week, according to Public Health and Social Services.
PHSS confirmed the cases the week of April 11-17, but they did not necessarily all occur then. In all, PHSS has recorded 45,878 cases and 359 deaths since the pandemic began. Of that total, PHSS considers 45,585 cases as recovered or recovering, meaning 293 confirmed cases remained active as of Monday.
From April 4-10, PHSS reported 272 cases and no deaths. Though the county saw fewer cases last week than the previous week, recent case counts have been fluctuating.
As of Monday, the state Department of Health considers disease activity to be “moderate” in Thurston County.
The county’s case rate per 100,000 people was 88.7 from March 27 to April 9. The record high case rate was 3,071.1 from Jan. 2-15, according to the latest data.
There has been a slight uptick in disease activity and outbreaks in recent weeks, said Health Officer Dimyana Abdelmalek during a Tuesday morning briefing for the Board of County Commissioners.
“Now is a good time to remind everyone that if you’re experiencing symptoms, stay home, get tested.” Abdelmalek said. “If you test positive with an at-home-test, make sure you notify the appropriate person at your workplace, school, childcare facility, whatever that may be. Just ensure other folks don’t get sick.”
Outbreaks and hospitalizations
PHSS reports it was investigating nine ongoing outbreaks at congregate care settings as of Monday. So far, there have been 190 such outbreaks during the pandemic — one more than reported last week.
At school settings, the county reported just one closure involving two cases the week of March 28 to April 3 in the Tenino School District. No other outbreaks have been reported since Feb. 21, per the data.
PHSS confirmed three hospitalizations over the past week. Since the start of the pandemic, the data show 2,258 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 an April 5 weekly report. However, it’s possible some had an unknown underlying condition.
Among the 359 who had died of COVID-19 as of April 10, the report says 100% had a known underlying condition.
Hospitalizations started falling in mid-January and have recently reached levels lower than recorded last summer. There were about 0.7 hospitalizations per 100,000 people from April 3-9 in Thurston County, according to the latest state data.
“Hospitalization rates within the county are holding steady,” Abdelmalek said on Tuesday. “We’re continuing to watch the situation pretty closely.”
The current record high rate was 37.8 which was recorded from Jan. 9-15.
As of Friday, about 87.8% of Intensive Care Unit beds were occupied over a seven-day period in the West region, which includes Thurston County and some of its neighbors. The data show just 3.6% of ICU beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients.
Hospitals in the region were 90.2% full over a seven-day period, while COVID-19 patients accounted for just 3.2%.
Vaccinations and tests
Just 65.5% of all Thurston residents were fully vaccinated as of Saturday, and 72.2% had at least initiated vaccinations, according to state data.
This represented just a 0.2% increase for both metrics compared to the previous week.
Meanwhile, the data show 76.3% of Thurston County residents 5 and older have initiated vaccinations and 69.2% had been fully vaccinated.
As of April 11, 81.5% of the state population 5 and older had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 74% 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 58.7% of those 12 and older had received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Saturday. Across the state, about 58.5% 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.
About 2.9% of confirmed molecular and antigen tests returned a positive result in Thurston County from March 23-29, according to DOH data. Over the same time period, the state had an overall test positivity rate of 3.3%.
People can get PCR tested 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 187,042 total COVID-19 cases with 1,316 deaths as of April 12. Pierce County has a population of about 927,000.
Lewis County has had a total of 17,542 confirmed and probable cases with 246 deaths as of Thursday. Lewis County has a population of almost 83,000.
Grays Harbor County has seen a total of 16,222 cases with 195 deaths as of Thursday, according to state data. Grays Harbor County has a population of about 75,000.
Mason County has reported 11,394 confirmed cases with 139 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 12,572 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to Thursday.
In the U.S., about 80.6 million COVID-19 cases had been reported as of Tuesday with over 988,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The U.S. population is about 330 million.
Globally, more than 505 million people had contracted the virus and over 6.2 million people had died of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, the data show.
