More than 700 new COVID-19 cases reported over past 3 days in Pierce County
Pierce County reported 226 new COVID-19 cases Monday with four additional deaths.
The latest deaths involved:
▪ A Tacoma woman in her 90s.
▪ A Puyallup man in his 80s.
▪ A Lakewood man in his 70s.
▪ A Central Pierce County woman in her 80s.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department no longer assigns underlying condition status to individual deaths it reports and instead counts underlying conditions as part of a percentage of the total number of deaths, which as of April 20 was 77.2 percent.
Over the weekend, there were 508 cases, 275 of them on April 24 and 233 on April 25.
That puts the past three days’ total at 734.
The health department on Monday said that seven deaths were removed from the county’s cumulative total. The deaths occurred between April and June 2020.
“We recorded these deaths as COVID-19 deaths before we had our death review process in place,” the department said. “Since June 2020, we have reviewed each death to confirm it was caused by COVID-19 before we report them.”
The county’s totals are now 43,572 cases and 525 deaths since the first confirmed coronavirus case was reported in March 2020.
The 14-day case rate per 100,000 is 242.1, with six-day data lag. The 7-day hospitalizations rate per 100,000 was 7.2 as of April 17, the most recent data point from TPCHD. That’s up from 4.8 on April 1.
The numbers differ from those reported for the state’s Roadmap to Recovery metrics, based in part on different points of time in measurement and different case totals. The state also includes some probable cases and cases among people who live on base at JBLM.
An estimated 5,400 cases remain active in the county.
Testing is available at various sites in the area. Local libraries in Tacoma and Pierce County also offer test kits available for curbside pickup. More information on testing is available on the health department’s website.
GEOGRAPHIC TOTALS
Monday’s cumulative geographic totals with Friday’s reported totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 1,217 (1,196)
▪ Central Pierce County: 1,968 (1,944)
▪ East Pierce County: 2,000 (1,969)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 1,745 (1,711)
▪ Frederickson: 1,596 (1,561)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 1,365 (1,344)
▪ Graham: 1,452 (1,438)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 390 (384)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 1,663 (1,630)
▪ Lakewood: 3,515 (3,477)
▪ Parkland: 2,126 (2,087)
▪ Puyallup: 2,498 (2,459)
▪ South Hill: 2,509 (2,460)
▪ South Pierce County: 1,417 (1,390)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 629 (616)
▪ Spanaway: 2,038 (2,003)
▪ Tacoma: 11,897 (11,702)
▪ University Place: 1,401 (1,378)
▪ Unknown: 2,146 (2,089)
VACCINES
As of April 21:
▪ About 480,850 total doses given to Pierce County residents, according to the health department. More than 4.9 million have been administered statewide.
In the county, 31.21 percent of the population has initiated vaccination, and 21.86 percent are fully vaccinated, according to state DOH, compared with 39.32 percent in the state initiating vaccines, and 26.82 percent fully vaccinated.
A map showing the percentage of those vaccinated by geographic areas has been added to the health department’s COVID data page.
▪ Vaccine access in the state is open to all residents 16 and older with no qualifying conditions required. The Pfizer vaccine is available to those 16 and older, while Moderna and Johnson & Johnson is available to those 18 and older, as per the vaccines’ emergency authorization use. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine on April 23 was recommended by federal health officials for a return to use, following a recent pause in distribution nationwide pending a safety review over rare blood clots.
Go to tpchd.org/vaxtothefuture or the county’s FindYourCovidShot.com website for information on local sites offering vaccines and for mass vaccine event registration. Locations of individual vaccine sites also can be found on the state’s vaccine finder: vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov.
▪ The health department’s call center to help those seeking vaccines is 253-649-1412.
▪ Pierce County has launched a call center to help those searching for vaccines. Residents who need assistance signing up for an event can contact the call center at 253-798-8900 or email pcvaccine@piercountywa.gov for help.
