Pierce County sets record with 89 new COVID-19 cases; contact tracing in the hundreds
Pierce County reported 89 new COVID-19 cases Thursday and no new deaths on the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department’s website.
The latest report is the highest single-day reporting of new cases since the start of the pandemic, breaking Saturday’s previous record of 81.
The county has reported 3,485 cases and 101 deaths since the first case in the pandemic was recorded March 6.
The county estimates 1,277 still-active cases.
According to data posted on the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department COVID tracking page, a total of 13 outbreaks were recorded in the county the week of July 4, up from seven the week prior to that.
Outbreaks consist of at least two cases tied to the same location. The health department told The News Tribune this week that outbreaks are happening across a full spectrum of sites.
Health department director Dr. Anthony Chen told the Board of Health at its Wednesday study session that the department on Tuesday had reached out to 722 people in contact tracing investigations.
“This is unprecedented amounts of contact,” Chen said.
On Wednesday, Nigel Turner, the health department’s director of Communicable Disease, told the Board of Health that, from what they’ve learned in contact tracing investigations, cases are involving, “a younger population ... associated with informal social gatherings and associated with businesses, but they tend to be very small outbreaks .... ones and twos and threes, not larger outbreaks.”
The county has reported 850 cases in the past 14 days, an average of 60.7 cases per day. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 people is 94.2.
The age group with the biggest percentage of cases is 20-29, representing 22 percent of the county’s cases but just under 14 percent of the population.
On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee limited gatherings further in Phase 3 counties (Pierce is currently in Phase 2) and said live, in-person entertainment that has already been banned in restaurants and bars will now be banned more broadly, including drive-in concerts.
He also floated the possibility of another statewide stay-home order if cases continue to spiral upward.
Daily totals for cases and deaths can change as the county receives new information, finds duplicate data or is assigned cases originally attributed to other counties.
Testing is available at various sites in the county. This week, Rite Aid launched drive-thru testing at some of its stores in Washington, including 7041 Pacific Ave. in Tacoma, and 5700 100th ST. SW Suite 100 in Lakewood. More information is available at www.riteaid.com/pharmacy/services/covid-19-testing
For more information on other 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: 85 (82)
▪ Central Pierce County: 226 (221)
▪ East Pierce County: 92 (89)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 148 (147)
▪ Frederickson: 126 (125)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 95 (93)
▪ Graham: 101 (97)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 18 (no change)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 117 (113)
▪ Lakewood: 346 (341)
▪ Parkland: 203 (199)
▪ Puyallup: 225 (no change)
▪ South Hill: 173 (169)
▪ South Pierce County: 68 (65)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 40 (41)
▪ Spanaway: 118 (116)
▪ Tacoma: 1,112 (1,074)
▪ University Place: 160 (156)
▪ Unknown: 32 (28)
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 July 16, 2020 at 3:06 PM.
