Pierce County’s COVID-19 totals creep upward with 21 new cases, three new deaths
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.
Wednesday saw 22 new cases.
A couple of factors could be contributing to the recent rise, according to information provided by Stacy Page, the health department’s COVID-19 communications manager.
Those factors include a lag in reporting from previous days when the case count was lower, and an uptick in cases due to increased gatherings and less social distancing around Memorial Day weekend.
The holiday weekend is still well within the time frame of the incubation period for COVID-19.
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.
Free testing
Kroger, parent company of Fred Meyer and QFC, is continuing 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 or by calling 888-852-2567 (select option 3).
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 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.
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 4, 2020 at 2:29 PM.
