9 new COVID-19 cases in Pierce County on Monday as businesses, port face new reality
In a rapidly changing reality for Tacoma, Pierce County and Washington state, local officials held virtual meetings and news conferences on Monday to help bring everyone up to speed on the state and nation’s coronavirus outbreak.
In Pierce County, nine new COVID-19 cases were reported on Monday, bring the county total to 38, up from 29 Sunday, with 703 tests run on Pierce County residents.
The new cases include a University Place man in his 40s, a Lakewood man in his 30s, a Gig Harbor-area woman in her 50s, a Tacoma man in his 60s, a Puyallup man in his 60s, a Tacoma man in his 70s, a Tacoma man in his 60s and two Tacoma women in their 60s.
Two of Pierce County’s new cases involve county employees, according to an email sent to county workers on Monday.
One of the individuals works in the Sheriff’s Department headquarters at the County City Building and is “doing well and recovering at home,” according to the email.
The other is a county employee who works at Remann Hall and is hospitalized.
“Both buildings where the two employees worked have been cleaned and disinfected per public health guidance,” according to the email, a copy of which was obtained by The News Tribune.
“We have been coordinating with Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and additional information has been sent to those who may have had close contact with the individuals. As a result, four additional employees are in self-quarantine.
“Based on the information gathered, so far, the risk of transmission for the general community is considered low. We are currently not recommending additional measures beyond those that have already been indicated, but will continue to monitor the situation and advise the appropriate individuals or groups accordingly, should that change.”
Elsewhere, the totals in King and Snohomish counties also continued to rise Monday. King County now has 488 cases and a total of 43 deaths since the start of the outbreak, and Snohomish County has 200 cases and 4 deaths so far.
Pierce County as of Monday has not reported any COVID-19 deaths.
Statewide as of Monday afternoon, there were 904 reported cases and 48 deaths, up from Sunday’s 769 cases and 42 deaths.
On Monday, Tacoma and Pierce County leaders spoke to businesses in a teleconference to go over what businesses can and cannot do in these times and where to find aid — short answer, go to officlal government websites such as the governor’s COVID-19 resource page.
The calls will take place Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week. More information is at the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber site: tacomachamber.org.
More than 400 people joined Monday’s inaugural call.
Mayor Victoria Woodards encouraged businesses to find innovative ways to keep employees working, such as converting dine-in restaurants into operations acceptable given new limitations, such as offering takeout or delivery services.
Woodards said she expected Tacoma businesses to respond accordingly.
“Everybody’s resources are overstreessed. Do the right thing based on the guidance,” she said. “We know how to figure out what the rule is .... be innovative, be creative but be healthy and safe.
“We’re all in this together.”
County Executive Bruce Dammeier noted an order had been signed allowing a suspension of the county’s noise-reduction criteria in unincorporated Pierce County to give “all trucking fleets greater latitude in restoring shelves.”
Monday’s call launched just as Washington Gov. Jay Inslee made official new restrictions on bars, restaurants, recreation centers and more.
Restaurants will be allowed to provide take-out, drive-thru and delivery services, but no in-person dining will be permitted.
The ban also covers food courts, bars and taverns, coffee shops, theaters, gyms and fitness centers, donut shops, ice cream parlors, wine and beer-tasting venues, breweries and distilleries; beauty salons, barbers, and nail salons; tattoo parlors, museums and art galleries.
The ban will not apply to grocery stores, pharmacies, child care and day care facilities, K-12 school-based food programs, convenience stores and banks.
Inslee said the new executive proclamation takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
“The reason is quite clear. We represent about 2 per cent of the population of the United States, but we represent over 20 per cent of the infections...In Washington state, the science is clear that this action is absolutely necessary to the continuation and rebirth of our culture and our economy and our family life,” he said.
Tacoma and Pierce County leaders noted that the number of confirmed COVID-19 could rise rapidly given expanded testing capabilities coming online.
There was discussion at the Tacoma business roundtable meeting that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is working to set up additional drive-thru testing for COVID-19 in Tacoma and Thurston counties as well as in King and Snohomish counties.
Disappointing port news
The Northwest Seaport Alliance tried to make the best of its disappointing container volume results for February, noting that no terminals had closed and that they were working on reduced hours to reflect lower volumes.
The NWSA, in its monthly report, stated: “We anticipate March 2020 volumes will be deeply impacted by the COVID-19 virus, contributed by the increased ship cancellations in 2020.
“The Northwest Seaport Alliance’s total container volume for February 2020 was 260,932 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a 3.1 percent decrease from February 2019. On the bright side, full exports increased 4.5 percent, while full imports declined 8 percent.”
Total container volumes for the first two months in 2020 saw an 11.9 percent decline compared with 2019.
Imports and exports fell 15.1 percent and 11.9 percent, respectively.
“Domestic container volumes for February 2020 decreased 3.3 percent year to date compared with 2019. Alaska’s year-to-date volumes were down 5.2 percent, while Hawaii’s year-to-date volumes were up 5.2 percent. Hawaii volumes benefited from one additional vessel call year to date,” according to the NWSA report.
According to figures from Pacific Maritime Association comparing the first 11 weeks of longshore hours worked at ports, total hours for Seattle/Tacoma are down 17 percent from 2019.
John Wolfe, CEO of the Northwest Seaport Alliance which oversees operations for both the Tacoma and Seattle ports, told reporters in a teleconference Monday afternoon that for now he was optimistic about the combined port operations’ market position compared with other ports.
“It’s really important for us to find ways to manage this and get through this challenging time for the economy to get back to what was a healthy economy,” he said.
“If we move into a prolonged recession all bets are off, and that’s not just for Seattle and Tacoma but all of the nation’s gateways.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 2:19 PM.
