Pierce County reports 23 new COVID-19 cases, two new deaths on Friday
Pierce County reported 23 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Friday and two additional deaths.
The new deaths involved a man in his 80s from Tacoma with underlying health conditions, and a woman in her 90s from Spanaway with underlying health conditions.
Pierce County totals are now 2,411 cases and 87 deaths since the county’s first case was reported March 6, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Daily 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 322 cases in the past 14 days, according to the health department. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 is 35.7, and average cases per day over the past 14 days is 23.
As of Friday, the county reported an estimated 493 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.
On Friday, he recommended an incremental expansion of Phase 2, to be considered next week.
Neighboring Thurston County moved into Phase 3 on Wednesday.
A new rule mandating masks statewide in indoor or outdoor public places, with some exceptions, is now in effect in efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Also Friday, the state Department of Health announced an additional 88 hospitalizations statewide, “most of which have occurred in the past week but have gone unreported,” it noted, due to a data glitch.
“Counties with a large impact include Yakima (16), King (21), Benton (8), Pierce (9), Franklin (6), Snohomish (5) and Spokane (6).” the department said in a news release.
Testing is available at various sites in the county. For more information on local testing sites, go to www.tpchd.org/covidtest.
Friday’s geographical case totals are listed below with previous day’s totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 51 (no change)
▪ Central Pierce County: 161 (no change)
▪ East Pierce County: 62 (no change)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 108 (107)
▪ Frederickson: 80 (79)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 65 (no change)
▪ Graham: 74 (75)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 11 (10)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 66 (65)
▪ Lakewood: 249 (244)
▪ Parkland: 138 (no change)
▪ Puyallup: 167 (no change)
▪ South Hill: 124 (121)
▪ South Pierce County: 47 (no change)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 28 (27)
▪ Spanaway: 82 (80)
▪ Tacoma: 778 (774)
▪ University Place: 100 (no change)
▪ Unknown: 20 (17)
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 26, 2020 at 2:18 PM.
