Coronavirus updates: State passes 71k cases; officials respond to outdoor overcrowding
Updated at 4:45 p.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Sunday reported 417 new cases of COVID-19 and six deaths.
Pierce County reported 67 new cases and no new deaths on Sunday. Pierce County had a total of 142 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Sunday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 71,012 cases and 1,863 deaths, up from 70,595 cases and 1,857 deaths on Saturday.
Twenty-six people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Aug. 15, the most recent date with complete data. Late March had two days with 88 people admitted, the highest numbers to date during the pandemic.
The total number of tests conducted is temporarily unavailable, according to the DOH.
The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, whichare given to patients while the virus is presumably still active in the body.
King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 18,662 cases and 713 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 10,816 cases and 235 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 6,445.
All counties in Washington have cases. Garfield and Wahkiakum have case counts of fewer than 10.
On Sunday, Washington had a 937-per-100,000-people case rate. The national rate is 1,722, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana has the highest rate in the United States at 3,041. Vermont is lowest at 248.
There had been over 5.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 176,765 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 806,000 people have died from the disease worldwide.
Pierce County reports 67 new cases
Updated at 2:10 p.m.
Pierce County on Sunday reported 67 new COVID-19 cases and no additional deaths.
County totals are now 6,445 cases and 142 deaths since the first case in the coronavirus pandemic was recorded March 6.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department has reported 853 cases in the past 14 days. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 people is 94.6. The goal for counties in Phase 2 is 25 or fewer per 100,000.
The average cases per day over the past 14 days is 60.9.
There are an estimated 2,045 still-active cases in the county as of Aug. 22, according to the health department.
The county ranks third for cumulative cases in the state.
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 testing sites, go to www.tpchd.org/covidtest.
Sunday’s geographical case totals are listed below with previous day’s totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 165 (no change)
▪ Central Pierce County: 394 (392)
▪ East Pierce County: 184 (179)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 263 (259)
▪ Frederickson: 243 (no change)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 169 (168)
▪ Graham: 217 (216)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 44 (43)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 207 (204)
▪ Lakewood: 598 (596)
▪ Parkland: 353 (351)
▪ Puyallup: 383 (373)
▪ South Hill: 343 (337)
▪ South Pierce County: 155 (no changee)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 69 (67)
▪ Spanaway: 302 (299)
▪ Tacoma: 2,018 (1,996)
▪ University Place: 261 (259)
▪ Unknown: 77 (76)
State reports 816 new cases on Saturday
Updated at 9:45 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Saturday reported 816 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths.
Pierce County reported 68 new cases and three new deaths on Saturday. Pierce County had a total of 142 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Saturday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 70,595 cases and 1,857 deaths, up from 69,779 cases and 1,850 deaths on Friday.
Thirty people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Aug. 12, the most recent date with complete data. Late March had two days with 88 people admitted, the highest numbers to date during the pandemic.
The total number of tests conducted is temporarily unavailable, according to the DOH.
The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, whichare given to patients while the virus is presumably still active in the body.
King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 18,546 cases and 712 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 10,796 cases and 235 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 6,469.
All counties in Washington have cases. Garfield and Wahkiakum have case counts of fewer than 10.
On Saturday, Washington had a 926-per-100,000-people case rate. The national rate is 1,708, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana has the highest rate in the United States at 3,041. Vermont is lowest at 246.
There had been over 5.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 176,332 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Saturday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 802,722 people have died from the disease worldwide.
Pierce County COVID-19 cases trending down but not among septuagenarians
Updated at 9:45 a.m.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department is “cautiously optimistic” about the dropping daily COVID-19 case counts, communicable disease director Nigel Turner told the Board of Health recently.
The 14-day case rate per 100,000 people was 97.5 on Friday. Two weeks ago, that number was 138.6.
There are tumbling numbers in other metrics, like a lower positivity rate in testing.
Positive test rates have been slowly decreasing since July 25 when Pierce County reached it’s all-time weekly high will 7.7 percent of COVID-19 tests coming back positive. The most recent data from TPCHD shows Aug. 2-8 with a positivity rate of 5.5 percent.
“This is probably an overestimate as we don’t get all the negative tests reported through to us,” Turner said in a Wednesday meeting of the Board of Health.
There also have been improvements in turn-around times at laboratories, Turner told the board. Since the second week of July, Pierce County has averaged more than 1,200 COVID-19 tests a day, a health department blog post said.
Median time from receiving a test to the health department being notified in Pierce County is two days. This is a drop from early July when the average time was three days, according to data provided by TPCHD spokesperson Dale Phelps.
Turner said he still is concerned about an increase in cases in the 70 to 79 age group. He pointed out that age group tends to have a worse outcome when diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Earlier this week, 70-79 year-olds made up 5.6 percent of reported COVID-19 cases, according to TPCHD. That age group makes up 6.5 percent of Pierce County’s population.
“The number of cases in that age group increased by about 6-10 fold since earlier in the summer,” the health department reported in early August.
Oregon, Washington respond to areas of outdoor overcrowding
Updated at 9:45 a.m.
The north Oregon coast crowds have been overwhelming the state park sites this summer with highway traffic jams, illegal parking and overflowing trash bins amid the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.
The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, Oregon Department of Transportation and other local agencies on the Oregon coast are teaming up to tackle the issues, the parks department announced Friday.
Key among their efforts will be increased enforcement of illegal parking, the agencies said, including ticketing “unsafely parked cars” and towing vehicles when needed, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
Drivers may receive tickets of $115 to $250 for illegal parking, the parks department said, and would need to pay for the cost of towing. Cars are usually towed to the nearest town with tow service.
“As has been true since March, we’re usually left with the ‘least bad’ option when it comes to managing a huge crowd of people,” state parks spokesman Chris Havel said.
No official crowd numbers have been released from this summer, although park officials have been sounding the alarm for months, as anecdotal reports pour in from rangers and visitors on the north coast that weekends have consistently reached “holiday level” crowds.
In Washington, people have been cramming themselves into Lake Cushman recreation area on the Olympic Peninsula, prompting closures, The Seattle Times reported.
The U.S. Forest Service said this week the roads allowing public access to the Mason County lake, day spots, trails and the Staircase entrance to Olympic National Park will be closed starting Saturday, for safety and health reasons.
A huge increase in visits to the area recently resulted in gridlock on the narrow road and hazardous conditions in which emergency vehicles could not respond to requests for help, Forest Service officials said in a statement.
“The extreme numbers of people recreating at Lake Cushman are creating unsafe conditions and degrading the experience for everyone. No one wants to be stuck in a 6-mile-long traffic jam on a narrow, gravel road with no way to turn around,” said District Ranger Yewah Lau.
Lau said there will be zero public access to Lake Cushman until the weather cools and visitation returns to a manageable level.
Loss of college football games a blow for Pullman businesses
Updated at 9:45 a.m.
The athletes weren’t the only ones affected when Washington State University’s fall football season was canceled by the coronavirus pandemic. Merchants in tiny Pullman, Washington, who depend on big football crowds say they are losing a major chunk of their annual income.
Pullman, the most remote outpost in the Pac-12, has only 34,000 residents. Many businesses in town depend on visitors attracted by football games, graduation and other special events.
The pandemic has led to the cancellation of many of those events, including seven home football games that annually provide a lifeline to hotels, restaurants and other retailers.
Of Pullman’s 34,000 residents, about 20,000 are Washington State students and many of the rest are faculty and staff. Without the college, Pullman would be another small farm town amid the rolling hills of the fertile wheat country known as the Palouse.
“We expect to be down 50 to 60% in annual sales this year,” said Bob Cady, owner of the Cougar Cottage, an iconic bar and restaurant in Pullman close to Martin Stadium, where the Cougars play their home football games.
It’s the same story in small college towns across the nation. The loss of business revenue is especially acute in isolated Pullman, however, which is 300 miles (480 kilometers) east of the Seattle metropolitan area, where many of Washington State’s alumni live. It’s one of the most remote schools among the Power Five conferences.
The cancellation of Mom’s weekend and graduation ceremonies last spring, and the recent decision by the Pac-12 to postpone the football season to next year at the earliest will devastate business at what is popularly called The Coug, Cady said. In reality, Cady has long expected the football season to be canceled.
“We’ve known for months there will not be 30,000 people in the stands and 20,000 students in town,″ Cady said. ”The game now is to lose as little as possible.”
Football Saturdays are especially active in Pullman. Fans in RVs begin flocking from across the state starting on Thursdays, and stay until Sunday. They patronize restaurants, bars and other retail outlets. The few hotels in town are booked months in advance and can charge premium rates for rooms.
“That’s going to be a huge hit,″ Marie Dymkoski, executive director of the Pullman Chamber of Commerce, said about the loss of fall football.
The business community is used to feast-and-famine cycles in Pullman, especially in summer months, Dymkoski said.
This year, it has mostly been famine. “We’ve already lost some businesses,″ Dymkoski said.
This story was originally published August 23, 2020 at 9:53 AM.
