Pierce County coronavirus numbers up by 80 in one day; total cases now at 498
Pierce County on Thursday reported a total of 498 COVID-19 cases and seven deaths, with 5,299 tested as of March 28.
While it noted the county had 80 new cases as of Thursday, its previous day’s listed total was 417.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department late Thursday told The News Tribune that one of the previously reported Joint Base Lewis-McChord cases was reassigned to Parkland.
On Wednesday, the county health department removed cases from JBLM from its counts after a directive from the Defense Department to limit the announcements to general branches, rather than by installation.
Before the removal, Pierce County’s total on Wednesday was at 423.
Wednesday evening, the Washington state Department of Health offered updated numbers for case totals and deaths statewide.
The DOH website had not posted updated totals since those collected March 28. Since that time, it noted that the state’s disease reporting system had been overrun in reporting both positive and negative test results, causing the system to overload.
The totals offered for cases still did not appear to be a complete update as the state works to get back on track.
According to the state health department, on March 29 Washington had a total of 5,062 cases, 5,515 by March 30 and 5,984 on March 31, with 247 deaths and 74,798 people tested so far.
Between March 28 and March 31, there was an increase of 52 deaths, according to the state.
Pierce County case number totals announced Thursday by geographic location within the county are listed below with the last reported totals from Wednesday in parentheses. Numbers may be higher/lower because of continued redistribution of totals as case investigations continue.
▪ Bonney Lake: 13 (12)
▪ Central Pierce County: 27 (22)
▪ East Pierce County: 11 (9)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 21 (20)
▪ Frederickson: 13 (no change)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 30 (24)
▪ Graham: 14 (13)
▪ JBLM: no longer reporting (6)
▪ Key Peninsula: 4 (3)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 13 (no change)
▪ Lakewood: 39 (33)
▪ Parkland: 24 (22)
▪ Puyallup: 28 (25)
▪ South Hill: 26 (22)
▪ South Pierce County: 8 (no change)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 6 (no change)
▪ Spanaway: 19 (15)
▪ Tacoma: 184 (142)
▪ University Place: 18 (15)
Daily reports include new cases received by 11:59 p.m. the previous day.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREHow we are reporting coronavirus numbers
The News Tribune reports confirmed coronavirus cases as listed by the Washington Department of Health and the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department in their daily updates.
The state total includes all cases submitted by county health departments by 11:59 p.m. the previous day and is updated once a day by 6 p.m. on its website. Its numbers only include the cases the health departments have reported directly to the state. In some cases, county health departments have reported cases publicly but not to the state health department by the daily deadline, leading to different totals on occasion.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department updates its total by 2 p.m. each day on its website, and consists of all new confirmed cases reported by 11:59 p.m. the previous day.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 2:37 PM.
