Coronavirus updates: Sumner-Bonney Lake resuming in-person learning; restaurants receive funds
The Washington state Department of Health reported 3,353 new cases of COVID-19 and 29 deaths Thursday.
Pierce County reported 302 cases Thursday and one new death. Pierce County has a total of 322 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Thursday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 264,012 cases and 3,634 deaths. The case total includes 10,611 cases listed as probable. Those numbers are up from 260,659 cases and 3,605 deaths on Tuesday. DOH revises previous case and death counts daily.
As of Dec. 19, the date with the most recent complete data, 96 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.
Preliminary reports indicate average daily hospital admissions were 96 in late December.
Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,223), approximately 81.7% (999) were occupied by patients Thursday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 19.8% (242) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.
Pierce tied to King, Snohomish now when it comes to COVID phases. Is that good or bad?
Local officials this week spent time parsing what new reopening plans for the state mean for Pierce County, which still is struggling with high rates of COVID-19.
Not everyone has the same takeaway.
Under the new “Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery” plan, counties are grouped into eight regions based on health system resources. All are now considered to be in Phase 1 of a two-phase plan, which goes into effect Jan. 11.
Pierce County is grouped with King and Snohomish counties in the Puget Sound region.
In short, COVID-19 data will have to be improving regionwide, not just a single county, for the counties involved to move ahead in a phase for reopening.
While health officials argue it streamlines the process and saves labor on applying for advancement, Pierce County’s executive made clear during a recent business roundtable call he thinks it’s coming at the expense of local control.
“If we’re in a better position, can we break off from that region? I will be making that argument all day, every day,” County Executive Bruce Dammeier said on the call Wednesday. “I want to get our folks, as soon as they can in a safe way, opened up. I want to get them open.”
Sumner-Bonney Lake School District announces plans to bring back all grades
In-person learning at the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District is scheduled to return for all grades in the coming weeks depending on COVID-19 cases in Pierce County.
The youngest students will return first on Jan. 19, according to an announcement released on Tuesday by the district.
All students in all grades who choose to return to the classroom will attend school two days a week by Feb. 10. The 10,336-student district said students are able to return sooner than expected after the state loosened recommendations on reopening schools.
All grades will follow a hybrid schedule of two days in the classroom and three days of virtual learning. Students will be divided into two groups, A and B, with alternating schedules. Group A attends school in person Tuesdays and Thursdays and Group B attends school in person Wednesdays and Fridays.
Families with multiple students will be assigned to the same schedule, the announcement said.
The district’s return is contingent on COVID-19 case counts across Pierce County. Elementary students can return when there are more than 350 cases per 100,000 residents; middle school students will go back when Pierce County has reached 350 cases per 100,000 residents or less, and high school students will return when cases are below 200.
Restaurant Rally sent checks of at least $10,000 to 289 Pierce County restaurants
Nearly 300 full-service restaurants received a slice of $7.5 million in CARES Act funding as part of a county program that reimbursed them for extending a 30 percent discount to diners.
A final tally of the Pierce County Restaurant Rally indicates these restaurants reported $6.38 million in sales over 10 days in November. About 60 percent of 485 eligible full-service restaurants, open prior to March 23, 2020, participated.
In the first week, Nov. 8-12, 252 restaurants were reimbursed for $3.16 million in sales, according to county data. The promotion was then interrupted by a statewide ban on indoor dining.
As restaurants scrambled to buy tents and heaters, the second week, Nov. 15-19, funneled largely through takeout orders. Despite an additional 37 businesses on the list, overall sales barely budged, reaching $3.22 million eligible for reimbursement.
The county had earmarked $100,000 for marketing, which in part built a dedicated website visited 43,000 times in its first eight days online, according to a Dec. 11 status report from the Economic Development Department. That left $1.02 million in the pot.
To ensure the full $7.5 million allocation fulfilled its purpose — supporting full-service restaurants, a sector reeling from months of pandemic restrictions — the council voted in mid-December to double the minimum reimbursement amount, from $5,000 to $10,000. Council member Marty Campbell pushed for the update. The maximum a restaurant would receive remained at $90,000.
The increase benefited 88 restaurants, according to council spokesperson Brynn Grimley.
“There will not be leftover funding because Council wanted it all to go to the restaurants,” she told The News Tribune in an email in late December.
Betty Capestany, director of the county’s economic development department, said her team reviewed receipts at the end of each week and sent reimbursement checks immediately. The jump to a $10,000 minimum sent another $311,000 to restaurants.
Craig Sailor, Josephine Peterson, Debbie Cockrell and Kristine Sherred contributed to this report.
