Pierce County still seeing COVID outbreaks, but number is declining
The number of COVID-19 outbreaks in Pierce County is down from last week.
On the same day Gov. Jay Inslee announced the end of indoor masking requirements statewide March 21, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department issued its latest outbreaks and vaccination report.
The health department noted Thursday outbreaks were down “across the board.”
Cases overall have been on decline in Pierce County. The latest weekly total, 1,779 new cases, was down about half from the previous week.. The week’s total number of deaths, 43, was up from 31 the previous week.
Total number of school outbreaks fell from 39 to 32 with 187 related cases — 50 percent of them tied to classrooms, 10 percent sports and 40 percent listed as “other.”
Businesses and long-term care facilities reported 120 outbreaks with 1,905 cases, a 27 percent drop in both cases and outbreaks from last week, according to the health department.
“We saw 17 fewer larger outbreaks (10 or more active cases) than last week,” the health department noted Thursday.
The bulk of the total is from long-term care facilities, with 1,196 cases.
Western State Hospital in Lakewood had the largest outbreak listed on TPCHD’s data website, with 474 cases across multiple wards, followed by Pierce County Jail with 139 cases and Pierce Transit with 100 cases.
Walmart in Lakewood, which first reported an outbreak and shut down the store for a weekend of cleaning in early January, remains on the list with 81 cases.
In other retail, Puyallup’s Costco remains listed with 40 cases.
Hospitals still face internal outbreaks, with St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma listed with 25 cases.
Outbreaks remain on the list for 28 days and are removed if no new cases associated with the current outbreak are reported.
Inslee’s latest announcement on indoor masks follows a previous rollback of the state outdoor mask mandate set to take effect Feb. 18.
“I’m confident based on this epidemiological evidence that we will achieve our goal of making sure that we knock this disease down low enough where hospitals can be safe,” Inslee said Thursday.
Businesses can choose to keep mask and vaccination requirements as a condition of entry after March 21.
Vaccines
The Health Department also offered updates on the number of those vaccinated.
As of Feb. 12, 64 percent of all Pierce County residents were fully vaccinated and 68.6 percent of those 5 and older were fully vaccinated.
That compares with 66.5 percent of the state’s total population vaccinated and 72.7 percent of those 5 and older fully vaccinated.
County vaccination percentages (at least one dose) by age group:
▪ 5-11: 26.5 percent
▪ 12-17: 59.8 percent
▪ 18-19: 76.0 percent
▪ 20-34: 71.5 percent
▪ 35-49: 77.8 percent
▪ 50-64: 79.2 percent
▪ 65-79: 84.2 percent
▪ 80 and older: 93.3 percent
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 3:31 PM.
