Thurston County COVID-19 cases jump again, rise by 21 on Wednesday
Thurston County COVID-19 cases jumped Wednesday, rising by 21 confirmed cases to an overall total of 1,374, county health officials announced.
The high number of cases early this week follows a new high for weekly cases in the week ending Sunday, the data show. The county reported 121 cases last week, the most ever in one week.
Wednesday’s new cases included a woman in her 80s, two women in their 70s, four people in their 50s, five people in their 40s and four people in their 20s, the data show.
In her weekly letter to the community, County Health Officer Dr. Dimyana Abdelmalek attributed the recent rise in cases to a number of factors: those who delayed their COVID-19 testing due to wildfire smoke, those who traveled over Labor Day weekend and the ensuing week, and those who gathered with friends and family. Some, too, contracted the virus at work.
“It is vital for an entire household to quarantine when one member is sick with COVID-19,” she writes in her letter. “People who are sick can be infectious for 10 days (20 days if immunosuppressed) and it is important people isolate themselves from other household members while they are infectious when possible.”
The number of COVID-19 facility outbreaks has increased again. Previously one adult family home was dealing with an outbreak, but now that number has grown to five, according to the county.
Of the overall total cases in Thurston County, 1,027 patients have recovered or are recovering, 101 have been hospitalized at some point during their illness and 17 have died.
In the region
▪ Pierce County added 68 cases on Wednesday and one new death, a Tacoma woman in her 70s with underlying health conditions. The county now has reported a total of 8,289 cases and 178 deaths.
▪ Lewis County reported two new cases and one death on Wednesday for a total of 615 and six deaths.
▪ Grays Harbor County announced four new cases Wednesday for a total of 563 with 11 deaths. Of the total cases, 63 are considered active.
▪ Mason County reported three new cases on Wednesday for a total of 483 with eight deaths.
Around the state, nation and world
The state Department of Health on Wednesday reported 545 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 12 deaths, giving the state 91,208 cases total with 2,177 deaths.
In the U.S., nearly 7.6 million cases had been reported and more than 212,000 people had died as a result as of Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Globally, nearly 36.4 million cases had been reported and nearly 1.1 million people had died as of Thursday, the data show.
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 5:15 PM.
