Coronavirus updates: State reaches 117,331 cases
Updated at 4 p.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Sunday reported 1,320 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. The department is no longer reporting deaths on weekends.
Pierce County reported 135 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday. Pierce County had a total of 201 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 117,331 cases and 2,439 deaths, up from 116,011 cases on Saturday.
King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 30,854 cases and 822 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 12,203 cases and 280 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 11,563.
All counties in Washington have cases.
Pierce County reports 135 new cases
Updated at 2:10 p.m.
Pierce County reported 135 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday and no additional deaths.
County totals are now 11,407 confirmed cases and 201 deaths since the first case in the coronavirus pandemic was recorded March 6.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department has reported 1,673 cases in the past 14 days. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 people is 185.5. Average cases per day over the past 14 days are 119.5.
There are an estimated 2,823 still-active cases in the county.
Testing is available at various sites in the county. For more information on testing sites, go to www.tpchd.org/covidtest.
Geographic totals
Sunday’s geographic case totals for Pierce County are listed below with previous day’s total in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 292 (287)
▪ Central Pierce County: 638 (630)
▪ East Pierce County: 440 (434)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 514 (505)
▪ Frederickson: 473 (469)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 323 (315)
▪ Graham: 363 (361)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 93 (92)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 420 (415)
▪ Lakewood: 971 (965)
▪ Parkland: 554 (550)
▪ Puyallup: 771 (765)
▪ South Hill: 654 (647)
▪ South Pierce County: 312 (310)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 142 (140)
▪ Spanaway: 502 (497)
▪ Tacoma: 3,421 (3,377)
▪ University Place: 427 (421)
▪ Unknown: 97 (94)
State reports 1,770 new cases on Saturday
Updated at 10 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Saturday reported 1,770 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. The department is no longer reporting deaths on weekends. The mark is the highest single-day total since the pandemic began, surpassing the previous high of 1,691, which was set yesterday.
Pierce County reported 226 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday. Pierce County had a total of 201 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 116,011 cases and 2,439 deaths, up from 114,241 cases and 2,439 deaths on Friday.
King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 30,363 cases and 822 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 12,185 cases and 280 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 11,404.
All counties in Washington have cases.
There have been 7 COVID-19 outbreaks at Pierce County schools, according to new data
Updated at 10 a.m.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department now is reporting regions where COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred in schools, and Tacoma Public Schools has begun reporting cases at its schools.
Neither agency delineates whether the cases are among students, staff or a combination.
The health department updated its website for schools Friday to show a total of 16 cases stemming from seven school outbreaks across the county for the past 28 days as of Nov. 6.
Two of those outbreaks have occurred in the Puyallup region and include four total cases. Another two of those outbreaks have occurred in the South Hill region, involving six total cases. Other cases tied to schools are listed as “other regions,” sites with only one outbreak, of which there are three with six cases.
The health department on its website said it organized listings that way to “balance transparency of location and patient confidentiality.”
The listings come one week after the department announced it would work with rural school districts on devising a “rapid testing” pilot program to aid in returning to in-person instruction. The program is being financed via a $7.8 million CARES Act grant.
The new school listings portion includes community disease activity in relation to the state’s Decision Tree on school operations in the pandemic. The measurements used include the 14-day case rate per 100,000, the trend in percent of COVID-19 tests that are positive, the trend in new cases by day and the trend in hospitalizations.
Biden to name coronavirus transition team among first acts
Updated at 10 a.m.
President-elect Joe Biden plans to announce a new coronavirus task force on his presidential transition team on Monday as one of his first acts since winning the election.
The task force will be co-chaired by Vivek Murthy, a former surgeon general and Miami native, according to multiple media reports.
Biden was declared the winner on Saturday after he was projected to win Pennsylvania and its 20 Electoral College votes, guaranteeing he would secure the 270 necessary to beat President Donald Trump.
In his first speech as president-elect, Biden said one of his first actions will be to name members of a coronavirus task force that will guide his presidential transition on Monday. Coronavirus cases have been spiking across the country and the death toll in the United States is over 237,000 since the outbreak began.
“Our work begins with getting COVID under control,” Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware. “We cannot repair the economy, restore our vitality, or relish life’s most precious moments — hugging a grandchild, birthdays, weddings, graduations, all the moments that matter most to us — until we get this virus under control.”
“On Monday, I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisors to help take the Biden-Harris COVID plan and convert it into an action blueprint that starts on January 20th, 2021,” he said. “That plan will be built on a bedrock of science. It will be constructed out of compassion, empathy, and concern.”
The new task force will include 12 individuals, including public health experts and scientists, according to Jon Cooper, an adviser to the former vice president.
Miami Rep. Donna Shalala, who led the Department of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton, said she expects Murthy to be named to Biden’s coronavirus task force.
“He’s been one of the three co-chairs of [Biden’s] healthcare policy group that has been meeting for some time,” Shalala said. “This one is a little more focused on COVID.”
She said Murthy, a Miami native who was U.S. surgeon general under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, is a knowledgeable voice on COVID and is well-respected among health care policy experts.
This story was originally published November 8, 2020 at 10:41 AM.
