Coronavirus updates: Pierce County court celebrates family reunifications with car parade; Mariners win home opener
This page includes coronavirus developments around Washington state for Saturday, August 1.
Pierce County on Friday reported 94 new COVID-19 cases and one additional death.
County totals are now 4,876 cases and 116 deaths since the first case in the coronavirus pandemic was recorded March 6. The death reported Friday was a man in his 80s from Frederickson who had underlying health conditions.
The Tacoma Pierce-County Health Department has reported 1,330 cases in the past 14 days. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 people is 147.5. The average cases per day over the last 14 days is 95.0. There were 2,156 active cases as of July 30.
In a statement, the Tacoma Pierce-County Health Department wrote that 41.4% of the cases reported in the last two weeks are of 20-39 year olds.
The statement also said that more businesses are experiencing small numbers of cases. The News Tribune is keeping track of which restaurants have had confirmed cases.
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. For more information on other local testing sites, go to www.tpchd.org/covidtest.
Pierce County court celebrates family reunifications with car parade
Outside the Remann Hall juvenile justice center in Tacoma, a procession of cars drove around the traffic circle on Friday afternoon.
They were gathering for the annual family reunification celebration when parents, children, social workers, attorneys and other stakeholders gather to honor Pierce County families who have reunified after going through dependency court.
The dependency process is for cases of child abuse and neglect when the court rules parents must go through training and programs to address issues such as substance abuse or mental health struggles.
While some cases don’t have a happy ending, many do. Those positive outcomes were the cause of Friday’s celebration.
Usually, the event happens in June at Wapato Park. But this year, due to COVID-19, every part of dependency court has changed — including the reunification celebration.
“It’s something that’s always looked forward to by the people that work out here and also by the families as well,” said Pierce County Superior Court Judge Ed Murphy, who works on dependency cases.
Instead of in-court hearings granting custody back to parents, Murphy said, the coronavirus forced the court told hearings by telephone or Zoom conferences.
“We would give a certificate signed by the judge, and we have bears that we would give to the kids. We haven’t been able to do that in person since COVID has struck,” Murphy said. “Our great staff here has been working hard to try to figure out a way to celebrate reunification day in a way that would be safe for everybody.”
One of the event organizers saw a drive-through graduation parade and decided to explore having a similar celebration.
Stakeholders donated baskets, which were distributed to families. This year, the baskets were filled with themed goodies to help families have fun while staying safe.
From January to mid-July of this year, 242 children have gone through dependency court in Pierce County. This year, 169 families received invitations to the reunification celebration. According to Murphy, usually about 40 parents, 80 kids and 65 professionals and volunteers attend the event.
Help The News Tribune tell your loved one’s COVID-19 story
The News Tribune is asking readers to share stories of those who have passed away from the coronavirus in Washington.
As of July 28, more than 1,500 people have died of COVID-19 in the state. The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department reports 106 deaths as of July 27 in Pierce County alone. Those people were valued members of their communities and cherished by their families and friends.
If a loved one or someone special to you has died of the coronavirus, we’d like to know more about them so we can help honor their legacy.
MARINERS BEAT ATHLETICS 5-3 IN UNUSUAL HOME OPENER
With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to surge nationwide, there was no sold out crowd in the stands to welcome Walker and the Mariners home — though there were thousands of cardboard cutout fans lining the seats.
While the pregame celebrations were shown mostly on the video board in center field — local artist Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie performed a Mariners-centric rendition of “Centerfield” and two Portland-based singers performed the national anthem — players and coaches still stood along the base lines for introductions, a recognition of health care workers and a message of support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The pumped in crowd noise provided a consistent buzz around the stadium, the music kept the energy up, and the Mariners fed off all of it in their return to their own ballpark after a seven-game road trip to open the season.
“I think the group doing the sound, doing the walk-up songs, doing the crowd noise — the environment was great,” Mariners rookie outfielder Kyle Lewis said. “The energy was up and you could even feel a little bit of those nerves.
“It definitely felt the way we wanted it to feel. We had great energy going into the game and a lot of adrenaline, so it was cool.”
Taijuan Walker was brilliant in his return to Seattle, pitching seven shutout innings while allowing only one hit, walking two and striking out eight. Rookie Kyle Lewis extended his multi-hit streak to six games.
UW Huskies’ new 10-game, conference-only football schedule released by Pac-12
The 2020 Pac-12 football schedule is set — at least for now.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Pac-12 decided earlier this month to eliminate non-conference games for several fall sports, including football. On Friday afternoon, the conference CEO Group released an updated schedule where each team will play a 10-game, conference-only slate beginning Sept. 26.
The Huskies, who were supposed to start the season with a much-anticipated game against Michigan on Sept. 5, will now open against Stanford at Husky Stadium. They will close the regular season at USC on Dec. 5, marking the first time the season won’t end against Washington State (Nov. 27) since 2008.
Find the full schedule here.
Stay for spring season or enroll in college early? Top-tier football recruits face tough decision
With the WIAA moving high school football to the spring in Washington state, the area’s top-tier senior recruits are faced with new challenges. For those who were planning to enroll early in college after the fall season, they have a decision to make: Stick around for a potential high school shortened spring football season — which is not guaranteed — or keep their original plan of enrolling early at their selected universities.
There are no simple answers, no right or wrong decision. For each student-athlete, a variety of things factor into making the decision. Kennedy Catholic quarterback Sam Huard, considered a five-star recruit by 247sports.com, announced he’ll be returning to Kennedy for the spring season, rather than enrolling early at the University of Washington, as he originally planned. Lincoln High School’s Julien Simon, considered a four-star recruit by 247sports, announced on Twitter the end of his high school football and basketball career, saying he plans to enroll early at USC.
Steilacoom High School five-star recruit Emeka Egbuka also announced he’ll return for his senior season in the spring, tweeting: “Season postponed till March, I’m still coming for my records.”
Craig Sailor, Miriam Francisco, Lauren Smith, Lauren Kirschman and Andrew Hammond contributed to this story.
This story was originally published August 1, 2020 at 10:11 AM.
