Coronavirus updates: State reaches 110,011 cases
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Tuesday reported 657 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 22 new deaths.
Pierce County reported 70 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday and one additional death. Pierce County had a total of 195 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Tuesday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 110,011 cases and 2,400 deaths, up from 109,354 cases and 2,378 deaths on Monday.
King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 28,337 cases and 821 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 12,044 cases and 278 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 10,685.
All counties in Washington have cases.
Inslee announces technology investment for Washington students and staff
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
Gov. Jay Inslee announced the allocation of $24 million in Coronavirus Relief Funds to purchase approximately 64,000 computing devices for students across the state.
These devices will enable students to receive their education in the new COVID-19 remote learning environment. The first shipment of 20,000 devices is expected in the coming weeks.
“Having their own device is vital to students and staff participating and succeeding in distance learning,” Inslee said in a release. “The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown challenges at every Washingtonian, especially working families and students — having the proper equipment to navigate their new educational reality shouldn’t be one of those challenges.”
At the beginning of the 2020–2021 school year, more than 95% of students in Washington began the year in remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and the nine regional educational service districts, approximately 64,000 students and school staff statewide do not currently have their own computing device or tablet.
Pregnant women with COVID-19 have 70% higher risk of death, CDC report says
Updated 8:30 a.m.
An analysis of more than 400,000 women who are between 15 and 44 years old and diagnosed with COVID-19 revealed that those who were pregnant had a 70% increased risk of dying compared to those who were not, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Invasive ventilation, intensive care unit admission and ECMO were also more common among pregnant than non-pregnant women. ECMO stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. It’s a procedure that removes blood from your body, runs it through a machine that clears it of carbon dioxide and inserts oxygen-rich blood back into the body.
The new study released Monday comes after an earlier report from June that found similar results on pregnant women and COVID-19 — except for an increased risk of death from the disease.
Pregnant women who are 35-44 years old and positive for COVID-19 were nearly four times as likely to require invasive ventilation and twice as likely to die than nonpregnant women of the same age.
What’s more, Hispanic women had 2.4 times the risk of death.
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 8:36 AM.
