Thurston County reports 41 COVID-19 cases on Sunday
Thurston County announced 41 more COVID-19 cases on Sunday, giving the county 330 cases so far this week and 4,318 cases to date, county health data show.
The Olympian previously reported weekly COVID-19 totals on Sunday, but due to a change in how the county is reporting the coronavirus data, the full case count for the week of Dec. 14-20 won’t be known until Monday, said Schelli Slaughter, director of Thurston County Public Health and Social Services, on Sunday.
The county’s 24-hour reporting period used to be from noon to noon the following day. Now, it’s midnight to midnight, she said. That change took effect Dec. 8, which means the weekly case totals for Dec. 7-13 were 485, not 435.
Of the overall total, 3,288 people have recovered or are recovering from the virus, county health data show. That number has remained unchanged all week, although it jumped significantly between Dec. 12 and Dec. 13. On Dec. 12, the county reported 2,130 people were recovered/recovering, then it jumped to 3,288 the following day.
The number of people who have been hospitalized at some point during their illness also was unchanged on Sunday at 247, and 49 people have died.
No new deaths have been reported since Dec. 4, the data show.
The county is reporting 17 outbreaks at congregate care settings in the area.
According to the governor’s COVID-19 risk assessment dashboard, the county had 241.4 cases of the virus per 100,000 population over the past two weeks, the most recent data show from Thursday night show.
Under Gov. Inslee’s new pandemic-related school metrics, the 241.4 cases per 100,000 population puts the county in the moderate levels of COVID-19 activity, which means schools can “phase in in-person learning, prioritizing elementary and middle school students,” the county announced Friday.
If schools can demonstrate the ability to limit transmission, high school students can be added when cases are below about 200 per 100,000 over the same period, according to the county.
In the region
▪ Pierce County on Sunday announced 187 new cases and no new deaths, giving the county 22,722 cases and 272 deaths.
▪ Lewis County reported 33 new cases and no new deaths on Sunday for a total of 1,886 cases and 21 deaths.
▪ Grays Harbor County announced 69 new cases Thursday night, giving the county 1,611 cases with 21 deaths.
▪ Mason County reported 10 additional cases on Friday for a total of 1,078 with 12 deaths.
Around the state, nation and world
The state Department of Health reported 222,600 confirmed cases and 3,104 deaths as of Monday.
In the U.S., nearly 18 million cases had been reported as of Monday with nearly 319,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Globally, more than 77.2 million cases had been reported and 1.7 million people had died as of Monday, the data show.
This story was originally published December 20, 2020 at 5:41 PM.
