Second state worker in Thurston County tests positive for COVID-19
A state Department of Corrections employee has tested positive for COVID-19, making it the second Thurston County state worker to become afflicted with the respiratory illness.
Corrections announced Sunday that the Tumwater-based worker was last at the office on March 11 and is now at home until they recover. The employee worked at the agency’s headquarters in Tumwater.
The Department of Health also announced last week that one of its workers had tested positive for the virus.
The worker, who is in their 50s, was Thurston County’s first confirmed case, DOH spokeswoman Amy Reynolds said.
DOH said the employee last worked on March 6 and had no symptoms. But over that weekend, the worker began to feel sick and followed up with their physician assistant.
Corrections also announced Friday that a worker at the state prison in Monroe had tested positive for the virus. They last worked on March 8.
This story was originally published March 15, 2020 at 3:33 PM.
