Pierce County sees second death in coronavirus outbreak; total COVID-19 cases now 155
Seventeen new confirmed coronavirus cases were reported in Pierce County on Wednesday along with one new death, a Spanaway man in his 70s, who died of complications from the virus, according to the health department.
There are now 155 positive cases with two deaths out of 3,051 tested in the county by the University of Washington virology lab and State Public Health Labs since the outbreak started.
Statewide totals as of Tuesday afternoon from the state Department of Health listed 2,469 positive cases out of 34,181 tested, and 123 deaths.
Pierce County health officials on Wednesday said that while the Tacoma area’s daily growth of confirmed coronavirus cases was hovering between 12 to 20 a day, it was still too early to determine where we are when it comes to “flattening the curve.”
Nigel Turner, division director for the Communicable Disease Control Division at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, and Anthony Chen, director of Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, both offered updates during Wednesday’s COVID-19 Business Resources Conference Call, run by the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber and the Economic Development Board of Tacoma-Pierce County.
“It is premature to determine what shape that curve is, but we’re certainly not at the top,” Turner said.
While not yet at the peak, Chen also encouraged those listening in to keep the virus in perspective, given the low death toll so far in the Tacoma area, in contrast to King and Snohomish counties.
“Keep in perspective that 80 percent of people do fine and recover ... as we go along that percentage may increase. The vast majority have gone home and do fine; a few are in the hospital,” Chen said.
That didn’t mean that Pierce County is under any less threat, and Chen did not agree with calls by some, including President Trump, that areas, let alone Pierce County, would be in a position to get back to business by Easter.
Calling the president’s assessment “unfortunate” by sending a mixed message to the public, Chen noted, “I do not think in two weeks we will be past the peak. King County is not at its peak..”
“We are probably lagging King and Snohomish,” he said, adding that Thurston and other counties that were behind Pierce in registering their first cases “may be even further behind their peak of curve.”
Any rule relaxation “by Easter is being extremely optimistic,” Chen said, noting that the state’s own time limits with its emergency proclamations were to serve more as assessment checkpoints rather than a definitive assumption of the outbreak’s end.
“I hate to deliver the bad news, but I think this is going to take a little while,” he added.
Wednesday case numbers and Pierce County location with Tuesday’s totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 5 (4)
▪ East Pierce County: 6 (5)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 13 (12)
▪ Lakewood: 9 (no change)
▪ North Pierce County: 7 (5)
▪ Northeast Pierce County: 3 (no change)
▪ Puyallup: 28 (25)
▪ South Pierce County: 12 (11)
▪ Tacoma: 62 (56)
▪ University Place: 8 (no change)
▪ West Pierce County: 2
This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 2:33 PM.
