Coronavirus updates: 6 counties apply for Phase 3 of reopening plan
This page includes coronavirus developments around Washington state for Thursday, June 4.
Updated at 4:15 p.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Thursday reported 245 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and three deaths.
Pierce County reported 21 new cases and three new deaths Thursday. Pierce County had a total of 78 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Thursday.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 22,729 cases and 1,138 deaths, up from 22,484 cases and 1,135 deaths on Wednesday.
Twenty-four people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on May 27, the most recent date with complete data. March 23 saw 88 admittances, the highest number to date during the pandemic.
The total number of people who have been hospitalized in Washington state with a confirmed case of COVID-19 stood at 3,615 on Thursday.
Washington state has conducted 383,587 coronavirus tests, with 5.9 percent coming back positive. The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which are given to patients while the virus is presumably still active in the body.
There have been more than 1.8 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 107,979 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 388,000 people have died from the disease worldwide.
King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 8,318 cases and 574 deaths. Snohomish County has the second highest number of deaths at 150. Yakima County has the second highest number of cases at 4,031.
Washington’s least populous county, Garfield, remains the only one without a case. Seven other counties are reporting fewer than 10 cases each.
Pierce County report 21 new cases
Updated at 2:55 p.m.
Pierce County reported 21 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday and three new deaths where COVID-19 was the specific cause.
Five additional deaths have involved patients with COVID-19 but are not included in the official death toll, which only includes deaths where the disease has been determined the likely cause.
The county total is now 2,009 cases and 78 deaths, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
The three new deaths announced Thursday involved a Central Pierce County man in his 70s, another Central Pierce County man in his 60s and a University Place woman in her 100s, all with underlying health conditions.
Case and death data can change as new information emerges to correct duplicates, false positives or to assign a case to another county.
As part of the Phase 2 application process to allow for the reopening of more entities, Pierce County needs to see fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents over a 14-day period.
According to Thursday’s report, Pierce County had 20.3 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past 14 days.
The health department estimates the number of still-active confirmed cases in Pierce County is 397.
There have been 28,946 coronavirus tests run on Pierce County residents with 6.8 percent of them positive, 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.
Thursday’s geographical case totals are listed below with previous day’s totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 48 (no change)
▪ Central Pierce County: 145 (144)
▪ East Pierce County: 58 (no change)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 93 (no change)
▪ Frederickson: 65 (no change)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 54 (no change)
▪ Graham: 62 (60)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 7 (no change)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 50 (no change)
▪ Lakewood: 208 (206)
▪ Parkland: 118 (115)
▪ Puyallup: 143 (no change)
▪ South Hill: 105 (no change)
▪ South Pierce County: 38 (no change)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 21 (no change)
▪ Spanaway: 66 (no change)
▪ Tacoma: 648 (639)
▪ University Place: 69 (66)
▪ Unknown: 11 (10)
Daily reports include cases received by 11:59 p.m. the previous day.
Seattle school district deciding on operations
Updated at 9 a.m.
The Seattle school district says it will soon decide how the next school year will operate given the current coronavirus pandemic.
The district moved largely online since it first shut down all buildings on March 12 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Gov. Jay Inslee on April 6 issued an emergency order to keep schools across the state closed through the end of the school year.
Washington state’s largest school system, which has about 50,000 students, announced Tuesday that it’s considering three options, including fully remote learning.
Seattle Public Schools is also considering an option for the fall that would have children in pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade on campus full-time, while students in middle and high school grades take on an alternating schedule where they would spend part of their time in-person and the other part would be remote learning.
The third option is for all students in all grades to split their time between the classroom and online.
Tim Robinson, a Seattle schools spokesman, said the district is working to decide how school will be physically carried out for the 2020-21 school year, but that the details of how exactly students will learn in those capacities will take much longer to formulate.
“This whole effort is not to be confused with the curriculum, or how to go about educating, or the teaching process,” Robinson said. “It’s establishing the physical aspect of how we will proceed.”
The district is now beginning an intensive two-week process to vet the three options and is expected to announce its decision by the last day of school on June 19.
Robinson said it’s still finalizing who will be a part of the four-team committees that will deliberate and then make a recommendation to the district superintendent. Each team will consist of 18 members, including parents, teachers, community members and staff.
6 counties have applied to move to Phase 3 of reopening
Updated at 9 a.m.
Six counties have applied to move to the third phase of Washington state’s four-stage reopening plan that eases COVID-19 restrictions and allows businesses to start to reopen, the governor’s office said Wednesday.
Mike Faulk, a spokesman for Gov. Jay Inslee, said applications to the the Department of Health have been submitted for Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Lincoln, Columbia, and Wahkiakum counties. They are among eight counties that have been in Phase 2 for three weeks and are eligible to apply to advance to the third phase. Garfield and Skamania are also eligible to apply as of Wednesday. Whitman County could be eligible Friday, Faulk said.
They are among the 27 counties that are currently in Phase 2, which allows restaurants and taverns to reopen at half capacity with limited table sizes, hair and nail salons and barber shops to resume business, and retail stores to reopen for in-store purchases at 30% capacity. It also allows additional outdoor recreation and gatherings with no more than five people outside of a person’s household.
Phase 3 expands group gatherings to 50 or less, including sports activities, and allows restaurants to increase capacity to 75%. Gyms and movie theaters can also reopen at half capacity during this phase.
Most public interactions resume in the final phase, with bars, restaurants and entertainment and sporting venues returning to their regular capacity.
Washington state reports 327 new cases on Wednesday
Updated at 9 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Wednesday reported 327 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and six deaths.
Statewide totals are now at 22,484 cases and 1,135 deaths, up from 22,157 cases and 1,129 deaths on Tuesday.
King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 8,264 cases and 573 deaths. Snohomish County has 2,991 cases and 150 deaths, while Yakima County has 3,838 cases and 97 deaths. Pierce County reported a total of 1,988 cases and 75 deaths
Washington’s least populous county, Garfield, remains the only one without a case. Seven other counties are reporting fewer than 10 cases each.
There are 28 cases that haven’t been assigned a county.
Nineteen people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on May 26, the most recent date with complete data. March 23 saw 88 admittances, the highest number to date during the pandemic.
The total number of people who have been hospitalized in Washington state with a confirmed case of COVID-19 stood at 3,578 on Wednesday.
Washington state has conducted 377,327 tests, with 6% coming back positive. The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which are given to patients while the virus is presumably still active in the body.
State launches updated dashboard
Updated at 9 a.m.
Gov. Jay Inslee and the state’s Joint Information Center have launched an updated version of the state’s COVID-19 risk assessment dashboard. The updated dashboard provides researchers and the public a better ability to see what’s happening at the regional and county level when it comes to COVID-19 activity, testing, and healthcare system readiness.
“As we begin to gradually reopen and shift to a county-based plan, it’s crucial we keep a close eye on if, where and how COVID-19 is spreading,” said Inslee. “Washingtonians have been doing their part to keep each other healthy and safe, and we want to keep up that good work. We hope the data provided in this dashboard helps us all make well-reasoned decisions about how we can reopen safely.”
The new Power BI dashboard replaces the dial dashboard that was better suited for measuring statewide metrics. Additional metrics will be added or modified over time. While the dashboard doesn’t represent all the data and information considered by state health officials, it does provide helpful insights into several of the key measures.
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 9:05 AM.
