Pierce reports 25 new COVID-19 cases, 5 new deaths and outbreak at senior living site
On Monday the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department reported a COVID-19 outbreak in a local assisted living community.
Gibraltar Senior Living, 10816 18th Ave. E., Tacoma, has 27 positive cases among its 41 residents, according to the health department, and seven staff members have tested positive. Four residents have been hospitalized.
No COVID-19-related deaths have been reported there, the health department said in a news release.
Also Monday, the health department reported 25 new cases and five new deaths for Pierce County, and reassigned a previous case to another county, for a total of 1,188 cases, 34 deaths.
The county’s new deaths include a Tacoma woman in her 80s with underlying health conditions, and two cases where it is not known whether underlying health conditions were involved: a Tacoma woman in her 80s and a Tacoma man in his 70s.
The other new deaths were a Puyallup woman in her 70s and a Bonney Lake man in his 60s, both with underlying health conditions.
Outbreak details
The health department said it identified the first positive case at Gibraltar in an employee on April 9 and consulted with the facility to discuss how to implement safety measures.
“Health Department disease investigators immediately contacted facility leadership to discuss monitoring staff and residents for illness, limiting visitors, supply and usage of personal protective equipment, and instructed that staff should wear a mask at all times,” said Nigel Turner, director, Communicable Disease Control Division, in the release.
“We developed a plan to test residents and staff and instructed the facility to cancel group activities, stagger meal service and enforce social distancing,” Turner said.
The health department said it confirmed the facility’s first positive case in a resident on April 12 and attempted to contact the facility to share the information.
The next day, the department identified four more positive cases and said it consulted with the facility on testing plans.
“A private provider, Crown Health, tested most residents on Tuesday, April 14. The Health Department offered testing to remaining residents and staff on April 16,” according to the release.
“On Sunday, April 19, Health Department staff requested a consultation from Department of Health’s health care acquired infection team.”
The department said that 15 percent of the county’s positive cases to date are tied to “residents or staff from congregate care settings.”
County numbers
The county has not been reporting test result numbers or rates, previously citing delays with the state data reporting system. On Monday the county website said, “We continue to work with Department of Health to report test result numbers. We will report reliable data once it is available.”
Previous day’s totals are subject to change as case investigations unfold or cases are reassigned to other areas. On some days, the individual counts do not add up to the day’s official total. Smaller towns, such as DuPont and Steilacoom, are not individually listed, according to the health department, to protect patient privacy. The health department only reports cases in geographic areas with populations greater than 20,000 people.
Monday’s geographical totals are listed below with Sunday’s totals in parenthesis:
▪ Bonney Lake: 32 (no change)
▪ Central Pierce County: 95 (94)
▪ East Pierce County: 35 (no change)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 65 (63)
▪ Frederickson: 41 (40)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 50 (no change)
▪ Graham: 39 (38)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 7 (6)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 30 (28)
▪ Lakewood: 103 (97)
▪ Parkland: 57 (56)
▪ Puyallup: 58 (55)
▪ South Hill: 67 (66)
▪ South Pierce County: 22 (no change)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 9 (no change)
▪ Spanaway: 36 (no change)
▪ Tacoma: 402 (396)
▪ University Place: 38 (no change)
▪ Unknown: (3) (no change)
Daily reports include 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 20, 2020 at 2:50 PM.
