Pierce County reports 32 new COVID-19 cases
Pierce County reported 32 new COVID-19 cases Saturday. No deaths were reported.
The county’s totals are now at 2,257 cases and 84 deaths since the first confirmed case was reported in March.
There have been 24.7 new cases per 100,000 residents during the past 14 days, the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department website says. Pierce County has had 223 new cases during that period.
Saturday’s count continues a recent trend of an uptick in daily confirmed cases. There were 25 new cases confirmed Tuesday, 17 confirmed Wednesday, 24 confirmed Thursday and 28 confirmed Friday.
Saturday’s count is the highest one-day total the county has had since May 8.
An update posted to the health department’s site Friday says it is monitoring the recent spike. Pierce County is currently in Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s reopening plan for the state after reporting an average of 18.3 cases per 100,000 — the requirement is fewer than 25 per 100,000 — when it applied to move forward earlier this month. That average has jumped in the past week.
“We’re watching all of this closely, but it’s still too soon to know for sure what’s causing those increases,” the update says.
“We do know we aren’t seeing large increases in long-term care facilities or congregate care facilities. In fact, we recently tested staff and guests at a large shelter for people living homeless, and all tests were negative.
“In some instances, good news in one area explains what looks like bad news elsewhere. For instance, we are finding more cases now because more people are getting tested. We have more testing resources available community-wide and new testing guidelines. That helps us identify who has the disease so we can limit further spread.”
The percentage of total positive tests remained steady from the county’s Phase 2 approval on June 5 through last week, the update says.
As of Saturday, the county reported an estimated 406 active cases.
Daily case totals can change as the county receives new information about cases, finds duplicate data or is assigned cases originally attributed to other counties.
There have been 33,417 tests conducted in the county with positive results at 6.7%, according to the state Department of Health.
That total does not include negative tests from long-term care facilities or the 91,000 tests not yet assigned to a county.
“Next week, we will begin our own local reporting of overall negative tests and this number will not include serology tests,” the county health department’s website says. “It’s a part of a Safe Start dashboard we plan to launch on Wednesday.”
Saturday’s geographical case totals are listed below with Friday’s totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 50 (48)
▪ Central Pierce County: 157 (154)
▪ East Pierce County: 60 (no change)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 104 (103)
▪ Frederickson: 73 (71)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 58 (no change)
▪ Graham: 71 (no change)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 9 (no change)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 58 (59)
▪ Lakewood: 235 (232)
▪ Parkland: 132 (no change)
▪ Puyallup: 160 (159)
▪ South Hill: 114 (112)
▪ South Pierce County: 44 (43)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 23 (no change)
▪ Spanaway: 73 (72)
▪ Tacoma: 736 (721)
▪ University Place: 87 (85)
▪ Unknown: 13 (14)
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 20, 2020 at 1:58 PM.
