35 new COVID-19 cases in Pierce County reported Thursday, one new death
Pierce County reported 35 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday and one additional death.
The county has seen recent a spike in new cases. On Wednesday, the county reported 45 cases.
The new death reported Thursday involved a Southwest Pierce County man in his 80s with underlying health conditions.
The county’s totals are now at 2,390 cases and 85 deaths since the county’s first case was reported March 6, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
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.
The county has reported 312 cases in the past 14 days, according to the health department. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 is 34.6, and average cases per day over the past 14 days is 22.3.
As of Thursday, the county reported an estimated 482 active cases.
The health department’s director Dr. Anthony Chen this week warned residents that the county was slipping in efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 and was not yet ready to apply for Phase 3.
Neighboring Thurston County moved into Phase 3 on Wednesday.
Also this week, Gov. Jay Inslee implemented a new rule mandating masks in indoor or outdoor public places, with some exceptions, to take effect statewide starting June 26.
The local health department has introduced a new Safe Start dashboard on its website that measures Pierce County’s progress with the metrics required for safe reopening.
According to the new dashboard, average number of daily tests run in the county are at 517, with 2.5 percent of the tests positive, compared with a target of less than 2 percent.
That percentage of positive tests differs from the state’s recorded tally of 6 percent positive for Pierce County on its dashboard.
The local health department has noted in the past that the state’s total for the county did not include those tests unassigned and negative tests from congregate care sites, and that Pierce County’s positive rate was likely lower. The health department has said previously that its own, new totals would include local reporting of overall negative tests and would not include serology (antibody) tests.
Testing is available at various sites in the county. For more information on local testing sites, go to www.tpchd.org/covidtest.
Thursday’s geographical case totals are listed below with previous day’s totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 51 (no change)
▪ Central Pierce County: 161 (160)
▪ East Pierce County: 62 (no change)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 107 (no change)
▪ Frederickson: 79 (no change)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 65 (no change)
▪ Graham: 75 (74)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 10 (9)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 65 (63)
▪ Lakewood: 244 (239)
▪ Parkland: 138 (132)
▪ Puyallup: 167 (no change)
▪ South Hill: 121 (120)
▪ South Pierce County: 47 (46)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 27 (25)
▪ Spanaway: 80 (77)
▪ Tacoma: 774 (767)
▪ University Place: 100 (no change)
▪ Unknown: 17 (14)
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 25, 2020 at 2:27 PM.
