Coronavirus cases in Pierce County now at three; Tacoma residents test positive
There are now three presumed positive cases of coronavirus in Pierce County, health officials announced Saturday night.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department said two people, both Tacoma residents, tested positive for COVID-19.
One is a woman in her 30s who was discharged from Good Samaritan Hospital and is recovering at home as of Saturday. The other patient, a man in his 40s, tested positive Saturday at Tacoma General Hospital.
The first case of coronavirus in Pierce County was announced Friday, the patient a man in his 50s with underlying health conditions. He is at St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor receiving treatment.
“We have been expecting to see positive cases of COVID-19 in our community,” said Director of Health Anthony L-T Chen, in a press release Saturday evening. “With expanded testing capacity, it is likely we will see more cases in the coming weeks. Public health works every day to identify, track, and follow up on cases of potential disease exposure to limit the spread and protect community health.”
The health department is still learning more about the patients and who may have come into contact with them.
The University of Washington conducted the tests, which are presumed positive until the Washington state Public Health Laboratory confirms them. Only the Health Department can release information on confirmed positive cases.
The Washington state Department of Health’s official tally rose to 16 deaths and 102 confirmed coronavirus cases as of 11 a.m. Saturday. King, Snohomish, Grant and Jefferson counties all have reported cases in addition to Pierce and Clark.
WHAT IS A CORONAVIRUS
Coronaviruses are a family of viruses responsible for illnesses ranging from the common cold to SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, and MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, the World Health Organization says.
The virus gets its name from the “crown-like spikes” on its surface, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say.
This illness respiratory illness also goes by the name novel coronavirus and the code 2019-nCoV. It is a viral respiratory illness that spilled over into people from bats, said Christine Kreuder Johnson, a professor of epidemiology and ecosystem health at the University of California, Davis.
The other six include a couple of other viruses that grabbed headlines over the last decade — SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health organizations worldwide are basing their estimate of this new virus’ incubation period on that of the MERS incubation period. MERS first appeared in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has since spread around the world. Its symptoms typically start to appear about 5 or 6 days after a person is exposed, but that can range from 2 to 14 days.
WHAT IS COVID-19?
COVID-19 is the official name for the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus, WHO says. The virus and disease were not previously known.
The name comes from the words Coronavirus Disease 2019, Vox reported. But it took some work to come up with it.
“We had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual, or a group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease,” said WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, according to the publication.
Scientists had previously been calling it the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, since it was a new, or novel, strain of the virus discovered in 2019.
This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 8:04 PM.
