Outbreaks at businesses, care facilities on the rise as Omicron surges in Pierce County
The spread of COVID-19 via the highly contagious Omicron variant in Pierce County is evident in a continued increase of outbreaks.
Long-term care facilities are taking the brunt of the latest surge, with 78 sites showing outbreaks and 1,006 cases tied to outbreaks, making up more than half of the total business/school/congregate care center outbreaks.
The latest case total is more than double than the Jan. 6 count of 501.
In its Thursday report, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department said that businesses and long-term care facilities had 148 outbreaks with 1,774 cases this week, up from the 1,172 cases reported last week.
Eighteen sites with larger outbreaks (10 or more active cases) were added to TPCHD’s list, which is published on its website.
The health department publicly reports outbreaks at businesses and medical care facilities with 60 or more employees, members, students, or attendees and 10 or more confirmed COVID-19 cases. For long-term care facilities, outbreak reports are for locations with 30 or more beds and 10 or more cases and include residents and workers. Workers can be employed at multiple facilities and counted as a separate case at each site.
Following care facilities, the grocery sector had the second-most cases tied to outbreaks with 198 (up from 117) followed by shipping/delivery with 149 (up from 136) and K-12 schools with 140 cases among 13 outbreaks.
The health department counts school outbreaks as three or more cases or 10 percent or more of the group in a shared location in the last 28 days, while districts offer their own counts.
Among businesses, the Lakewood Walmart COVID outbreak has climbed from 52 cases reported as of last week to 68. The retailer temporarily closed the store over the weekend amid rising cases for cleaning and restocking. Other Walmart stores on the list and their current active case totals include the Tacoma Walmart on Union Avenue (35), Walmart on 31st Avenue in Puyallup (45) and its Meridian Avenue store (24).
The Pierce County Jail was listed with 117 cases in the latest outbreak, followed by the Northwest Retirement Center in Tacoma with 88, and the Fred Meyer Distribution Center with 87.
Among others listed, Pierce County Transit showed 37 cases and Wellfound Behavioral Health Hospital was listed with 20 cases.
This story was originally published January 14, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
