Friday brings highest single-day number of new COVID-19 cases ever to Pierce County
Pierce County reported 139 new COVID-19 cases Friday and three new deaths.
Friday marked the single highest day of new cases recorded in the county since the start of the pandemic. The previous high for a one-day total was seen Aug. 5, when 119 new cases were reported during the second wave of infections.
“The high number today is from a continued increase in community transmission combined with a high number of person-to-person transmission within households,” local health officials noted in their Friday update.
State and local officials this week have noted the state and Pierce County are in a third surge, which started after Labor Day.
The new deaths involved a Frederickson woman in her 90s, a Lakewood man in his 60s and a Tacoma woman in her 70s, all with no known underlying health conditions:
County totals are now at 9,543 confirmed cases and 188 deaths since the first case in the coronavirus pandemic was recorded March 6.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department has reported 1,106 cases in the past 14 days. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 people is 122.6.
Average cases per day over the past 14 days are 79.
With a six-day data lag required in the state’s Safe Start measurements, the county’s case rate per 100,000 is 101.8.
There are an estimated 1,893 still-active cases in the county.
The 0-19 age group has increased by 37 percent and is the fastest growing age group among cases “with 11.5 percent of the total number of cases and 15.8 percent of cases in the past 2 weeks,” according to Friday’s update.
The 20-39 age group comprises 38 percent of total cases in the past two weeks.
Testing is available at various sites in the county. For more information on testing sites, go to www.tpchd.org/covidtest.
Inflammatory reaction cases in children
On Thursday, the state released its first report on cases involving Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in children, a condition that causes inflammation in different parts of the body and has been seen in some COVID-19 patients.
According to the state Department of Health: “While we do not yet know what causes MIS-C, we know that many children with MIS-C had the virus that causes COVID-19.”
As of Oct. 10, 15 patients under the age of 20 in the state have been diagnosed with the condition since April, with no deaths reported.
Nine of the cases were in children ages 9 and younger; six were between the ages of 10 and 20.
Seven counties saw cases between April and October, with Yakima seeing the most with four cases, followed by King County with three. Franklin and Snohomish counties each saw two, and Mason and Skagit counties saw one each.
Two cases have been reported in Pierce County, according to figures provided by the Department of Health. More information is at bit.ly/3joL3nX
Geographic totals
Friday’s geographic case totals for Pierce County are listed below with previous day’s total in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 244 (243)
▪ Central Pierce County: 553 (541)
▪ East Pierce County: 352 (346)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 441 (429)
▪ Frederickson: 405 (403)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 254 (253)
▪ Graham: 317 (314)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 73 (72)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 342 (337)
▪ Lakewood: 856 (848)
▪ Parkland: 485 (478)
▪ Puyallup: 603 (594)
▪ South Hill: 528 (524)
▪ South Pierce County: 262 (261)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 104 (98)
▪ Spanaway: 422 (412)
▪ Tacoma: 2,873 (2,829)
▪ University Place: 346 (344)
▪ Unknown: 83 (84)
This story was originally published October 23, 2020 at 2:28 PM.
