Pierce County reports 12 new COVID-19 cases, two more deaths
Pierce County reported 12 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and two additional deaths.
The county total is now 1,967 cases and 75 COVID-19 deaths, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
The new deaths involved a Southwest Pierce County man in his 80s and a Central Pierce County man in his 60s, both with underlying health conditions.
Four additional deaths also involved patients with COVID-19 but are not counted among the official death toll where the disease has been determined the likely cause, as the health department explained last week.
Case and death data can change as new information emerges to correct duplicates, false positives or to assign a case to another county.
The health department estimates that the number of still-active confirmed cases is 423.
Application for Phase 2; free testing this month
On Tuesday, Pierce County submitted its application for approval to move into Phase 2 of the state’s Safe Start plan.
The application goes to the state’s Secretary of Health John Wiesman for review to determine whether to approve.
Until that approval, the county remains in Phase 1.
Among other qualifying factors, the county must have fewer than 25 positive cases per 100,000 residents in a span of 14 days. The health department on Tuesday said Pierce County had 17.2 cases per 100,000 over the past 14 days (155 new cases in the last 14 days, an average of 11.1 new cases each day..)
Availability of testing and rapid turnover of results is another qualifying benchmark.
Kroger, parent company of Fred Meyer and QFC, on Monday announced it was extending its drive-thru testing in Tacoma through the month of June.
The testing, available to patients who qualify via online registration, is available Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at the Tacoma Dome from 10 a.m to 4 p.m.
You must register online before going. Registration is at thelittleclinic.com/drivethru-testing.
The tests are provided at no cost to patients and no insurance is needed.
MultiCare and CHI Franciscan, among other medical providers, also offer COVID-19 testing at sites in the county. Go to tpchd.org/healthy-people/diseases/covid-19/testing-information for a list of locations.
There have been 27,074 coronavirus tests run on Pierce County residents with 7.2 percent of them positive as of May 31, according to state Department of Health data. That total does not include negative tests from long-term care facilities or tests not yet assigned to a county, according to the county health department.
Tuesday’s geographical case totals are listed below with previous day’s totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 48 (no change)
▪ Central Pierce County: 143 (142)
▪ East Pierce County: 56 (55)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 93 (no change)
▪ Frederickson: 65 (no change)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 55 (no change)
▪ Graham: 58 (57)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 7 (no change)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 50 (49)
▪ Lakewood: 206 (no change)
▪ Parkland: 113 (110)
▪ Puyallup: 141 (no change)
▪ South Hill: 105 (no change)
▪ South Pierce County: 37 (no change)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 21 (no change)
▪ Spanaway: 66 (no change)
▪ Tacoma: 628 (625)
▪ University Place: 65 (64)
▪ Unknown: 10 (9)
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 June 2, 2020 at 2:17 PM.
