Coronavirus updates: State reaches 35,898 cases
This page includes coronavirus developments around Washington state for Monday, July 6.
Updated at 4:55 p.m.
Pierce County reported 60 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday and no additional deaths.
Of those, Tacoma saw 16 new cases, Puyallup seven and University Place six.
There have now been 2,863 cases and 90 deaths recorded 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 574 cases in the past 14 days, according to the health department. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 population is 63.6. The county has averaged 41 cases per day over the past 14 days.
The county reported an estimated 749 still-active cases.
Testing is available at various sites in the county. For more information on local testing sites, go to www.tpchd.org/covidtest.
Monday’s geographical case totals are listed below with previous day’s totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 58 (56)
▪ Central Pierce County: 187 (184)
▪ East Pierce County: 71 (69)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 123 (122)
▪ Frederickson: 92 (91)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 77 (75)
▪ Graham: 80 (78)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 14 (12)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 82 (80)
▪ Lakewood: 299 (293)
▪ Parkland: 163 (160)
▪ Puyallup: 200 (193)
▪ South Hill: 145 (143)
▪ South Pierce County: 56 (55)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 33 (no change)
▪ Spanaway: 95 (93)
▪ Tacoma: 933 (917)
▪ University Place: 127 (121)
▪ Unknown: 28 (26)
State reports 651 new cases on Sunday
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Sunday reported 651 new cases of COVID-19 and five additional deaths.
Statewide totals have reached 35,898 cases and 1,359 deaths, up from 35,247 cases and 1,354 deaths on Saturday.
King County continues to to be the hardest hit with 10,941 cases and 620 deaths. Yakima County has 7,489 cases and 160 deaths, while Snohomish County has 3,696 cases and 175 deaths. Pierce County reported 52 new cases and no deaths on Sunday, bringing its totals to 2,803 cases and 90 deaths.
Garfield, the state’s least populous county, remains the only county without a reported case. Six other counties are reporting fewer than 10 cases each.
There are 140 cases that have not been assigned to a county.
The total number of people who have been hospitalized in the state stood at 4,482 on Friday.
There have been 612,706 tests conducted in the state with 5.9% coming back positive.
The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which are given to patients while the virus is presumably still active in the body.
Surge in cases in Eastern Washington
Updated at 9:45 a.m.
While the coronavirus at first pounded the greater Seattle area, the epicenter has now moved east across the Cascade Range thanks to exploding case loads in June. Washington is seeing rising cases of COVID-19, driven in large part by increasing numbers in Yakima, Benton, Franklin and Spokane counties, the largest communities in eastern Washington.
“We are seeing very high activity in Yakima, Benton and Franklin counties,″ Dr. Kathy Lofy, the state health officer, said on Monday.
It’s no coincidence that Gov. Jay Inslee has visited Yakima, Spokane and the Tri-Cities of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco in the past two weeks to urge citizens to take greater precautions.
The numbers are stark. In the past week, more than 40% of the state’s 2,957 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus occurred within those three metro areas, which make up less than 15% of the state’s population, according to the state Department of Health.
Yakima County, with 250,000 residents, has nearly as many cases as the neighboring state of Oregon, which has more than 4 million residents.
As of Thursday, Yakima County had recorded 7,270 cases and 159 deaths, according to the state Department of Health. Oregon has seen around 9,000 cases.
Yakima County’s surge of cases is partly driven by the large number of so-called essential workers in the county’s giant farm and food-production industries, officials have said. Those employees cannot work from home.
Benton and Franklin counties, which constitute the Tri-Cities metropolitan area of 300,000 people, also have big farm and food processing industries. The Tri-Cities have had 3,608 cases, including a record 215 on Wednesday, with 115 deaths.
Franklin (45) and Yakima (35.6) counties have the second and third highest rates of newly confirmed daily cases per 100,000 residents among metropolitan areas on the West Coast, the Harvard Global Health Institute reported this week. They trail only Imperial County in California.
The number of cases in the Tri-Cities includes some 220 staff and inmates at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center, the largest prison outbreak in the state.
Yakima and the Tri-Cities were the only communities in the state still in Phase I of Inslee’s gradual reopening process from virus restrictions, which meant they were mostly in lockdown. However on Friday authorities announced that Benton, Franklin and Yakima counties had been approved to move to a modified Phase 1. That allows more activity, like some outdoor seating at restaurants and limited in-store retail business.
Spokane County, which has 520,000 residents, is in Stage II with many businesses open. But the county has seen its once-low case numbers spike, in large part because people are going out more and because many residents are declining to wear masks.
Spokane County on Thursday reported a total of 1,443 cases and 41 deaths during the pandemic.
On Tuesday, Spokane County reported 81 new cases over a 24-hour period, its highest number since the outbreak began.
Most of WNBA older coaches OK with Florida virus risk
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
Mike Thibault knows he could be at higher risk for severe illness if he gets the coronavirus because of his age.
The 69-year-old Washington Mystics coach didn’t hesitate about going down to Florida with his team Monday to prepare for the virus-delayed WNBA season.
“There’s no guarantee. Living in D.C., I wear my mask and stay away from people,” said Thibault, who turns 70 in September. “You go to the grocery store or have food delivered, there is some risk involved in your life. That’s the nature of the virus. I’m not at the same risk as that grocery store worker or restaurant owner heading to work every day. We’re going to a controlled environment.”
Thibault is one of five head coaches in the league over 60, including three over 65 — which puts them in the higher risk category, according to the CDC. No other major sports league has as high a percentage (41.6) of head coaches over 60.
“It’s our job,” said Dallas Wings coach Brian Agler, who is one of the five. “I’m not more concerned because it’s Florida, as the virus is hitting everywhere right now.”
Florida is one of the current hot spots for the virus in the U.S., with the state reporting more than 21,000 new cases this weekend, including more than 11,000 on Saturday.
While four of the five sexagenarian head coaches plan on being in Florida, Seattle’s Dan Hughes announced last month that he won’t coach after he was determined to be at higher risk for severe illness if he contracted COVID-19. The 65-year-old Hughes missed nine games last year after having a cancerous tumor removed from his digestive tract.
“I know that Dan had a difficult decision to forego the 2020 WNBA season,” said Indiana Fever coach Marianne Stanley, who is 66. “My colleagues and I will certainly miss seeing him on the sidelines this summer; however, we all respect his decision to prioritize his health at this time and continue to wish him well.”
Gary Kloppenburg, who is 67, will take Hughes’ place leading the Storm.
Los Angeles Sparks assistant Fred Williams, who is also in his 60s, will be working from home instead of going to Florida, citing precautionary health reasons.
Williams will continue his duties including scouting, practice and game preparation, and film study from home.
“I truly appreciate the Sparks organization for their understanding in this unprecedented situation,” Williams said. “I look forward to continuing to assist Coach (Derek) Fisher and the coaching staff remotely as we work towards a WNBA championship.”
All the coaches know the league is taking every precaution it can to ensure the safety of everyone heading to IMG Academy, including testing, mask wearing and social distancing.
“If people do what they are supposed to do, we’ll be safer than the rest of the country,” Thibault said. “We are going to a facility where we are minimizing risk and we should be in a safe environment.”
Bill Laimbeer has been socially distant since the pandemic hit, spending time in Michigan and Florida.
He is more concerned about the day-to-day operations for his team, the Las Vegas Aces, once it gets to Florida than worrying about contracting the virus.
“They definitely have the testing and medical protocols down,” the 63-year-old coach said.
This story was originally published July 6, 2020 at 8:37 AM.
