Thurston County COVID-19 cases surpass 3,000 after county reports 47 more cases
Thurston County added 47 more COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, giving the county 182 for the week and a new milestone: A total of 3,003 cases have been reported here since the pandemic began in early March.
County health officials also announced two more deaths on Wednesday: A woman in her 80s and a man in his 40s have died of COVID-19, according to Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.
“To date, 1.8 percent of Thurston County residents diagnosed with COVID-19 have died from the disease, and a significant number of those who have had the disease have continued to struggle with symptoms for many weeks after the infection,” County Health Officer Dr. Dimyana Abdelmalek said in her letter to the community this week.
“The efforts I see in our community, and the scientific advances on the horizon, fill me with gratitude and hope,” she writes. “I am thankful for all of the people working to get us through this winter as safely as possible, and for the hope of better times ahead in 2021.”
Of the overall number of cases here, 1,921 patients are considered recovered or are recovering, 158 have been hospitalized at some point during their illness, and 46 have died, including five in the past seven days. The county is also reporting 11 COVID-19 outbreaks at congregate care settings, according to the county’s weekly update on the virus.
The 11 locations, according to the update, are three adult family homes, three nursing homes, three assisted living facilities and what the county calls two “supported living” facilities. The 11 locations, as of Nov. 22, have resulted in 196 positive cases — 134 patients, 62 staff — and 17 deaths.
Other data
▪ November is shaping up to be the worst month of the pandemic, with more than 900 cases reported so far, county health data show. The previous high was 633 cases in October.
▪ These Thurston County zip codes showed an increase in cases from the previous week: 98501, 98502, 98503, 98506, 98512, 98513, 98516, 98531, 98579, 98589 and 98597.
▪ The county is still experiencing “community spread” of the disease, which means the county cannot identify how some people contracted the virus.
In the region
▪ Pierce County on Wednesday announced 284 new cases and three new deaths. The three deaths were a man in his 80s from Spanaway, a man in his 60s from Tacoma and a man in his 70s from Puyallup. The Spanaway man had underlying health conditions. The county has now reported 15,372 cases and 228 deaths.
▪ Lewis County reported 22 new cases and two new deaths on Wednesday for a total of 1,134 cases and 16 deaths.
▪ Grays Harbor County added 18 new cases Tuesday night, giving the county 966 with 17 deaths.
▪ Mason County reported nine additional cases on Wednesday for a total of 776 with 11 deaths.
Around the state, nation and world
The state Department of Health reported 2,887 new cases and 14 new deaths on Wednesday. The state has now reported 153,906 cases and 2,704 deaths.
In the U.S., more than 12.8 million cases had been reported with nearly 263,000 deaths as of Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Globally, 60.7 million cases had been reported and 1.43 million people had died as of Thursday, the data show.
This story was originally published November 25, 2020 at 5:18 PM.
