Coronavirus updates: State passes 74k cases; cases triple in Whitman County
Updated at 4 p.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Saturday reported 441 new confirmed cases of COVID-19.
DOH is no longer reporting COVID-19 death counts over the weekend. While all deaths will continue to be reported, DOH will now add the counts generated from the weekend to the following Monday and Tuesday reports.
Pierce County reported 26 new cases and no new deaths on Sunday. Pierce County had a total of 146 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 74,320 cases and 1,905 deaths, up from 73,879 cases on Saturday.
Thirty-five people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Aug. 11, the most recent date with complete data. Late March had two days with 88 people admitted, the highest numbers to date during the pandemic.
On Aug. 19, the most recent date with complete data, 15,978 specimens were collected statewide, with 3.7% testing positive. The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 3.9%. More than 1.4 million tests have been conducted in Washington.
The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction tests, which are administered while the virus is presumably still active in the body.
King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 19,553 cases and 723 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 10,942 cases and 239 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 6,648.
All counties in Washington have cases. Garfield and Wahkiakum have case counts of fewer than 10.
On Sunday, Washington had a 980-per-100,000-people case rate. The national rate is 1,811, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana has the highest rate in the United States at 3,153. Vermont is lowest at 258.
There had been nearly 6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 183,020 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 844,000 people have died from the disease worldwide.
Pierce County reports 26 new cases
Updated at 2:10 p.m.
Pierce County on Sunday reported 26 new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths.
County totals are now at 6,648 cases and 146 deaths since the first case in the coronavirus pandemic was recorded March 6.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department has reported 648 cases in the past 14 days. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 people is 71.8. 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 46.3.
There are an estimated 1,624 still-active cases in the county, according to the health department.
Cases involving younger people continued to lead in impacts countywide.
In an update Thursday morning, the health department noted that in the past two weeks, 39.9 percent of cases were in the 20-39 age group. That age group represents 27 percent of Pierce County population.
That was higher than cases involving those age 60 or older (18.9 percent) or healthcare workers (9.8 percent), according to the update.
The health department has created a new dashboard to show how the county is doing in terms of returning students to in-person classes. The dashboard is at TPCHD.org/covidinfoschools.
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: 169 (no change)
▪ Central Pierce County: 395 (no change)
▪ East Pierce County: 202 (201)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 275 (no change)
▪ Frederickson: 252 (251)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 182 (178)
▪ Graham: 225 (224)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 49 (50)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 216 (no change)
▪ Lakewood: 616 (no change)
▪ Parkland: 362 (no change)
▪ Puyallup: 386 (384)
▪ South Hill: 353 (351)
▪ South Pierce County: 160 (no change)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 69 (no change)
▪ Spanaway: 313 (312)
▪ Tacoma: 2,073 (2,062)
▪ University Place: 271 (270)
▪ Unknown: 80 (77)
State reports 578 new cases Saturday
Updated at 9:30 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Saturday reported 578 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and no deaths.
Pierce County reported 57 new cases and no new deaths on Saturday. Pierce County had a total of 146 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 73,879 cases and 1,905 deaths, up from 73,301 cases and with no change in deaths since Friday.
Thirty-two people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Aug. 9, the most recent date with complete data. Late March had two days with 88 people admitted, the highest numbers to date during the pandemic.
On Aug. 17, the most recent date with complete data, 16,281 specimens were collected statewide, with 4% testing positive. The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 4%. More than 1.4 million tests have been conducted in Washington.
The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction tests, which are administered while the virus is presumably still active in the body. King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 19,449 cases and 723 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 10,928 cases and 239 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 6,719.
All counties in Washington have cases. Garfield and Wahkiakum have case counts of fewer than 10.
On Saturday, Washington had a 973-per-100,000-people case rate. The national rate is 1,797, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana has the highest rate in the United States at 3,153. Vermont is lowest at 254.
There had been nearly 6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 182,726 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Friday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 840,000 people have died from the disease worldwide.
Cases of COVID-19 in Whitman County triple in past week
Updated at 9:30 a.m.
The number of coronavirus cases in Whitman County has nearly tripled in the past week, one of the highest growth rates in the nation.
The county is home to Washington State University, and students have been pouring into Pullman in the past week for the start of the school year.
The Spokesman-Review reports the county’s COVID-19 case count rose to 422 on Saturday.
The county said in a press release that of the 58 new positive cases reported in the county Saturday, 22 were in people 19 or younger and 36 were in people age 20 to 39.
Pullman ranks fifth in the United States for metro areas where new cases are rising the fastest, on a population-adjusted basis, according to a New York Times case tracker. The Times reported Pullman had only 14 new confirmed cases of the virus last week and 222 this week.
Pullman Police Chief Gary Jenkins recently announced that officers will be immediately issuing tickets for violations of Gov. Jay Inslee’s pandemic restrictions. Police had been giving warnings prior to this week.
37 at SeaTac federal detention center infected with virus
Updated at 9:30 a.m.
The Federal Detention Center in SeaTac says it has a cluster of coronavirus infections among inmates and staff.
As of Thursday, 31 inmates and six staff members at the facility had tested positive for the virus, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, The Seattle Times reported.
No deaths or hospitalizations have been reported, according to prison and public health officials.
“We tried like hell to keep it out,” said U.S. District Court Chief Judge Ricardo Martinez. “We were successful for a long time. But it’s there now, and it’s a serious situation.”
Martinez said the infections likely will keep local federal courts closed for another month. They had been set to open for limited trials and in-person hearings after Sept. 8, when his latest shutdown order expires.
The federal courthouses in Seattle and Tacoma have been closed since early March, resulting in trial delays and in some defendants being locked up for months awaiting court dates.
The first COVID-19 infection at the facility was reported July 22 in a staff member, according to a prisons spokesperson. The first inmate tested positive on July 30.
Confirmed infections didn’t increase rapidly until the past couple of weeks, according to Michael Filipovic, the federal public defender for Western Washington, who has been tracking the outbreak.
“I am very concerned for the health and safety, and actually the lives of our clients that are in the federal detention center,” Filipovic said. He said he’s also worried for staff.
Eighteen inmates were exposed before booking, while 10 were exposed during the period when a staff member was infectious, according to Sharon Bogan, a spokesperson for Public Health – Seattle & King County, who on Thursday did not have information on the remaining cases.
“With the information we have currently, we do not believe there is spread among the general population of inmates within the facility,” Bogan said in an email.
This story was originally published August 30, 2020 at 9:43 AM.
