Pierce County reports nearly 200 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday

Pierce County reported 196 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday with one additional death, a man in his 60s from Graham.

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 27 was 76.8 percent.

The county’s totals are now 43,911 cases and 529 deaths since the first confirmed coronavirus case was reported in March 2020.

The 14-day case rate per 100,000 is 353.1 with an eight-day reporting delay, according to the state’s Roadmap to Recovery metric, now used by the health department instead of its own count that it had relied on during the pandemic and in previous phase metric data.

On Wednesday, the health department announced it was switching to the state’s Roadmap to Recovery metrics for case rates per 100,000, which have recently run higher than TPCHD’s number. The state’s totals include probable cases and cases among people who live at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

“In the past, those differences were relatively small. But for several reasons, those differences have increased. The state rate is now 25% higher than what our local data shows,” the health department explained in a blog post Wednesday.

“Regardless of which dashboard you’ve followed, the clear pattern is Pierce County cases continue to rise and so does our case rate,” it added.

Phase 2 allows for 200-350 cases per 100,000, so as of Wednesday Pierce County was not meeting that metric.

New hospitalizations per 100,000 over seven days also need to stay between 5-10 in Phase 2. Pierce County was doing better in that metric, with the state reading at 5.

The next round of evaluations to determine whether Pierce County stays in Phase 2 will be Monday, with any change taking effect May 7. Counties can miss one of the two metrics and stay put. If they miss both, they backslide. Counties that meet both county-based metrics of a higher level phase can move forward one phase.

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

Tuesday’s cumulative geographic totals with previous day’s reported totals in parentheses:

▪ Bonney Lake: 1,236 (1,226)

▪ Central Pierce County: 1,977 (1,973)

▪ East Pierce County: 2,021 (2,009)

▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 1,760 (1,752)

▪ Frederickson: 1,612 (1,608)

▪ Gig Harbor area: 1,376 (1,368)

▪ Graham: 1,461 (1,457)

▪ JBLM: No longer reported

▪ Key Peninsula: 391 (no change)

▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 1,681 (1,667)

▪ Lakewood: 3,542 (3,521)

▪ Parkland: 2,134 (2,129)

▪ Puyallup: 2,519 (2,510)

▪ South Hill: 2,528 (2,519)

▪ South Pierce County: 1,423 (1,421)

▪ Southwest Pierce County: 632 (629)

▪ Spanaway: 2,070 (2,045)

▪ Tacoma: 11,980 (11,927)

▪ University Place: 1,407 (1,405)

▪ Unknown: 2,161 (2,158)

VACCINES

As of April 26:

▪ About 503,511 total doses given to Pierce County residents, according to the state Department of Health. More than 5 million have been administered statewide.

In the county, 32.43 percent of the population has initiated vaccination, and 23.11 percent are fully vaccinated, according to state DOH, compared with 40.89 percent in the state initiating vaccines, and 28.34 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.

This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 2:22 PM.