Coronavirus updates: Inslee extends Safe Start proclamation; Washington State Fair canceled
This page includes coronavirus developments around Washington state for Thursday, July 9.
Updated at 3:40 p.m.
Pierce County reported 63 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday and no new deaths.
There have now been 3,001 cases and 92 deaths recorded since the county’s first case was reported March 6, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
The health department noted in a news release that lower case counts Tuesday and Wednesday were likely the result of several labs being closed over the July Fourth weekend and warned higher totals could be imminent.
Daily totals for cases and deaths 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 613 cases in the past 14 days, according to the health department. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 population is 68. The county has averaged 43.8 cases per day over the past 14 days.
The county reported an estimated 910 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.
On Wednesday, the health department released updated testing data, showing an average of 796 daily tests run the week of June 21, its latest data set, compared with 561 the previous week and 519 at the end of May-early June.
However, positive rates have grown more than level of testing, the department explained on its blog Wednesday.
“More people are getting tested every week. But the percentage of positive tests is increasing even more. This means the level of COVID-19 disease is increasing in our community,” wrote Ingrid Friberg, data representative for the health department
Data show that Pierce County’s rate of positive tests was at 2.6 percent at the end of May, rising to 4.7 percent toward the end of June.
Friberg added, “If testing alone was the cause of the increase in cases, the percentage of positive cases would stay the same or go down.”
Thursday’s geographical case totals are listed below with previous day’s totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 61 (no change)
▪ Central Pierce County: 198 (193)
▪ East Pierce County: 74 (72)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 130 (126)
▪ Frederickson: 97 (95)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 83 (80)
▪ Graham: 82 (81)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 17 (16)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 92 (85)
▪ Lakewood: 308 (304)
▪ Parkland: 169 (167)
▪ Puyallup: 205 (202)
▪ South Hill: 149 (147)
▪ South Pierce County: 57 (56)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 37 (no change)
▪ Spanaway: 104 (100)
▪ Tacoma: 967 (953)
▪ University Place: 142 (136)
▪ Unknown: 29 (no change)
UW season-opener against Michigan canceled
Updated at 3:40 p.m.
Washington won’t be starting the 2020 season as planned.
The Huskies were scheduled to open the year with a much-anticipated game against Michigan on Sept. 5 at Husky Stadium. But then the Big Ten Conference announced on Thursday that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it would play a conference-only schedule for fall sports.
“Earlier today Warde Manuel notified me of the Big Ten’s decision to play a conference-only schedule this fall, cancelling our Sept. 5 game with Michigan at Husky Stadium,” said UW athletic director Jennifr Cohen.
“Our fans and football program have been looking forward to this game for several years, but we understand this decision was made due to the impact of COVID-19 and prioritizing the health and well-being of student-athletes. Warde and I are currently in the process of discussing details on a future return date and will provide updates as they become available.”
UW’s game against Michigan was the first in a scheduled home-and-home set to continue in Ann Arbor, Mich. in 2021. It’s unknown now whether that game will take place, or whether the game in Seattle can be rescheduled for a future season.
Both the Huskies and Michigan have openings in their 2023 non-conference schedules, which could provide a solution. In a release, UW said it plans to re-schedule the home game vs. Michigan for a later season, which will be announced when the decision is made.
The Big Ten is the first Power Five Conference to cancel the non-conference schedule. The Atlantic Coast Conference is suspending fall sports until Sept. 1, while the Ivy League announced this week it was canceling all sports.
The Pac-12 has yet to make a statement on the upcoming season, though reports surfaced Thursday that both the ACC and the Pac-12 were also expected to eliminate non-conference games in the coming days. That would wipe out UW’s home games against Sacramento State (Sept. 12) and Utah State (Sept. 19).
Pierce County continues to ramp up contact tracing efforts
Updated at 9:35 a.m.
At the outset of the coronavirus pandemic Pierce County employed 10 disease investigators, working to limit the spread of communicable illnesses like tuberculosis or norovirus, according to Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department spokesperson Steve Metcalf.
The spread of COVID-19 in Pierce County has necessitated an expansion of these efforts, Metcalf said, aided by funding allocated through the federal CARES Act.
Currently, there are 27 case and contact investigators working for the county, not including support staff.
In total, the county has now trained “about 94 investigators, made up of staff and volunteers, who are available as caseloads increase,” Metcalf adds.
Metcalf says there’s a long-term plan to employ 180-200 case and contact investigators if needed.
“The size would be scalable based on a surge in cases,” Metcalf says.
The important work these contact tracers conduct now takes place on three floors of what Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department refers to as its “overflow building,” which is a nondescript office building across Pacific Avenue from the department’s main headquarters.
Here, since May, the county’s case and contact investigators have gone to work trying to reach residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 and those they’ve possibly infected.
Metcalf describes contact tracing as “one of the most effective tools public health has to identify COVID-19 activity in our communities and stop the disease from spreading.”
“Until we have a vaccine, we’ll lean heavily on contact tracing to help keep Pierce County residents healthy and safe,” Metcalf added.
Tacoma Pride to be commemorated with virtual events
Updated at 9:20 a.m.
After canceling the street festival set for July 11 over COVID-19 concerns, the annual Tacoma Pride celebration of the LGBTQ community will be commemorated through a series of virtual events throughout the month of July.
Troy Christensen, executive director of The Rainbow Center, said having the show go on in some form was important.
“It’s important to our community that we take a moment to celebrate in a way that brings us together and celebrates the joy of who we are as the LGBTQ community,” Christensen said. “While we have to make some concessions to do things differently this year, and maybe even going forward, it’s important that we still make sure that we make time for this in a way that recognizes everyone as their full and authentic selves.”
If you are interested in more information of what this will look like or have questions, you can visit the event website at http://tacomapride.org.
Rebecca Rossi, director of development at The Rainbow Center, said the changes have been a long time coming.
“It became clear a couple months ago that we needed to adjust our scenario for Tacoma Pride this year,” Rossi said. “Historically we’ve gathered about 15,000 people on the streets and in the parks in downtown Tacoma. That’s not going to be a safe thing to do for quite some time.”
Organizers said they also intend to highlight current protests over police brutality against Black people.
“We’re going to have a Virtual Parade which will have short videos interspersed with some live content,” Rossi said. “We’ll be weaving in conversation about that intersection of police brutality against marginalized communities. The queer community has also experienced that, especially queer people of color have experienced violence.”
One event that will not be going on is the annual block party which has customarily been held at The Mix, a local bar and nightclub.
Courtney Moore, co-owner of The Mix, expressed sorrow the party couldn’t go on.
“It would have been The Mix’s twelfth block party,” Moore said. “I took ownership in September with one of my peers. We both worked there for quite some time, so it was going to be our first big one where we were in charge. It’s a little weird not doing it.”
Inslee issues new proclamation, extends two others
Updated at 9 a.m.
Gov. Jay Inslee issued a new proclamation and extended two others related to COVID-19 response.
The Open Public Meetings Act extension suspends certain statutes in the Open Public Meetings Act and the Public Records Act involving time frames for responding to requests because of physical building closures due to COVID-19. It also lets public agencies in Phase 3 offer an in-person component to meetings that are held remotely, at their discretion.
The DOH health care facilities and hand sanitizer extension waives DOH health care facility licensing requirements and loosens restrictions on hand sanitizer manufacturing.
The DSHS Developmental Disabilities Administration Assessments and Reviews proclamation waives and suspends some legal provisions regarding in-person reviews and on-site assessments during statutory timelines.
State releases long-term care facility data
Updated at 9 a.m.
Washington state health officials report as of June 6, a total of 4,724 COVID-19 cases (13% of total cases) and 820 deaths (60% of total deaths) have been associated with a long-term care facility (i.e,. nursing home, assisted living facility or adult family home).
▪ These cases include residents as well as employees and visitors.
▪ Not all cases were exposed at a long-term care facility.
▪ Many cases visited multiple places during their exposure periods; some individuals may have visited a long-term care facility after disease onset.
Inslee extends Safe Start proclamation
Updated at 9 a.m.
Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday evening formally issued the extension of the Safe Start proclamation until Aug. 6.
In addition of the statewide requirement to wear face coverings inside businesses, it also requires employers to notify their local health jurisdictions within a 24 hour period if they suspect COVID-19 is spreading in their workplace, or if the employer is aware of two or more employees to develop confirmed or suspected COVID-19 within a 14-day period.
The Safe Start Recovery plan was also updated to provide clarification for restaurants and taverns in phases 2 and 3, which prohibit bar-style seating and live music and resumes self-service buffets.
Washington state fair canceled
Updated at 9 a.m.
The 2020 Washington State Fair has been canceled.
The Washington State Fair was originally scheduled to begin Sept. 4. It typically draws more than a million visitors to Puyallup.
This is the second time in the fair’s 120-year history the fair has been canceled.
“We have met the challenges of fires and floods, withstood changes in culture and the challenges of time and, except for the four years of World War II, operated uninterrupted that entire span,” spokesperson Stacy Van Horne said in a statement.
The decision to cancel was announced in light of a surge of COVID-19 cases across Washington. Pierce County has seen daily case increases, causing the health director to withdraw his application for an expanded Phase 2 of the Safe Start plan.
The fair would be allowed in Phase 4 of the Safe Start plan. The Washington State Fair said it is a people-gathering event, which is contrary to the challenges of containing the coronavirus pandemic.
“Consequently, though it was a hard decision, it was really the only decision possible based on what we currently know,” Van Horne said.
The Washington State Fair is the largest in the Pacific Northwest. The fairgrounds bring in more than $246.5 million to the state economy through business, revenue and taxes.
City of Puyallup officials told The News Tribune for a story detailing the economic-impact of the fair that the city would take a hit without the tax revenues from the fair.
“Puyallup just wouldn’t be Puyallup without the fair,” city spokesperson Brenda Fritsvold previously said. “It’s a part of our community character, and it’s one of the primary things that visitors associate with Puyallup.”
Many local organizations, including churches, restaurants and non-profits, also would lose income.
The revenue of parking cars for First Christian Church of Puyallup is half of the church’s budget. Robin Crabb, volunteer and worship chair for the church, told The News Tribune she isn’t sure how the church would pay for a new pastor or continue programs without that income.
“That’s a big chunk of money to go without,” she said. “There are no alternatives that are going to bring in that amount of money for the church.”
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 8:59 AM.
