Thurston County adds 42 COVID-19 cases, overall total grows to 9,338
Thurston County reported 42 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday — about the same time Gov. Jay Inslee announced a wider opening of the state.
All 39 counties will move to Phase 3 of the governor’s “Healthy Washington” plan on Tuesday, followed by a total reopening of the economy on June 30, the governor announced. Thurston County has been in Phase 3 since the Healthy Washington plan was first announced March 11, so no changes will take place locally until June 30.
North Thurston Public Schools also reminded families Thursday that it will move ahead with its expanded in-person learning on Monday. “We will bring all hybrid middle and elementary school students back to four days a week of in-person learning starting May 17 as planned, with small groups continuing to be served on Fridays,” the district announced.
High school hybrid learners in the North Thurston district already are back to four days a week.
Thursday’s new cases increased the overall total to date to 9,338, according to Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.
Of those, 8,389 people had recovered or are recovering from the virus; 548 had been hospitalized, including nine in the past seven days, and 90 had died, as of Thursday’s data.
The county is still reporting four COVID-19 outbreaks at area congregate care settings.
In the most recent week of data, 9.1% of COVID-19 tests returned positive, the highest number since early this year.
Nearly 222,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the county, according to state Department of Heatlh data.
In the region
▪ Pierce County confirmed 198 new COVID-19 cases and one new death on Thursday, bringing its totals to 46,528 cases and 550 deaths.
▪ Grays Harbor County had reported 4,018 confirmed and probable cases and 65 deaths as of Thursday.
▪ Lewis County Public Health & Social Services reported 3,790 confirmed cases and 60 deaths as of Thursday.
▪ Mason County reported eight new cases on Thursday for a total of 2,092 cases with 31 deaths.
In the state, nation and world
The state Department of Health has now reported a total of 419,382 COVID-19 cases and 5,626 deaths as of Thursday.
In the U.S., 32.9 million cases have been reported as of Friday with 585,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Globally, 161.4 million people had contracted the virus and 3.35 million had died as of Friday, the data show.
This story was originally published May 13, 2021 at 5:31 PM.
