34 new COVID-19 cases in Pierce County and one new death
Pierce County reported 34 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and one additional death.
Pierce County totals are now 2,587 cases and 90 deaths since the county’s first case was reported March 6, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
The new death reported Wednesday involved a University Place woman in her 80s with underlying health conditions.
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 415 cases in the past 14 days, according to the health department. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 is 46.0, and average cases per day over the past 14 days is 29.6.
As of Wednesday, the county reported an estimated 596 still-active cases.
The county continues to see a spike in new cases, pushing past 50 in one day on June 26, a level not seen since mid-April.
On Tuesday, health department director Anthony Chen announced he would withdraw the county’s application for an expanded Phase 2 for now, amid the sharp rise in cases.
Gov. Jay Inslee’s Safe Start plan is geared toward a slow reopening of businesses and society in hopes of avoiding spikes in the spread of coronavirus. Pierce County was approved for Phase 2 on June 5.
In Tacoma alone, 18 new cases were reported Tuesday. On Tuesday, 47 new cases were reported.
Pierce County is among others in Western Washington to see numbers of new cases grow at rates more reminiscent of times earlier in the pandemic.
Testing is available at various sites in the county. For more information on local testing sites, go to www.tpchd.org/covidtest.
Wednesday’s geographical case totals are listed below with previous day’s totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 52 (no change)
▪ Central Pierce County: 175 (173)
▪ East Pierce County: 64 (no change)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 112 (111)
▪ Frederickson: 85 (84)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 71 (68)
▪ Graham: 77 (76)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 11 (no change)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 70 (67)
▪ Lakewood: 270 (267)
▪ Parkland: 153 (152)
▪ Puyallup: 178 (176)
▪ South Hill: 130 (no change)
▪ South Pierce County: 49 (48)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 30 (29)
▪ Spanaway: 88 (86)
▪ Tacoma: 837 (828)
▪ University Place: 109 (no change)
▪ Unknown: 26 (22)
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.
