Gig Harbor response is calm as second coronavirus case is reported

Gig Harbor is taking its coronavirus cases in stride, although city and school officials are keeping in close touch with health authorities.

Peninsula public schools remain open and no sports or extracurricular events have been canceled, even as a second case was reported Monday. Some service clubs and organizations were canceling meetings.

The latest Gig Harbor patient, an area woman in her 60s, was among three new cases reported by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department on Monday. The first was a man his 50s from Puyallup who is being treated in St. Anthony Hospital.

Pierce County’s cases of COVID-19 doubled on Tuesday to 14, according to new numbers released by the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department, and includes the first presumed positive cases of a child and youth in the county.

Also reported independently were two cases from Joint Base Lewis-McChord that tested positive, a service member and spouse. The two are in quarantine off-base, the Washington military base confirmed Tuesday.

The new presumed positive cases listed on the county website Tuesday include a Tacoma woman in her 30s, a University Place woman in her 50s and another UP woman in her 60s, a Tacoma woman in her 20s, a University Place man in his 40s, a Tacoma boy under age 10 and a Tacoma youth.

There have been 165 cases reported statewide, leading to 24 deaths as of Tuesday.

First case at St. Anthony

The Puyallup man went to St. Anthony on his own March 4, health officials said. It is not clear why he chose a hospital so far from his home.

It was the first case confirmed from Pierce County. Since then, six more cases, one in Gig Harbor, three in Tacoma and one each in Lakewood and Puyallup, have been revealed

The three newest patients include a woman in her 60s from the Gig Harbor area, a Puyallup woman in her 50s and a Tacoma woman in her 80s. Health authorities are restrained by federal privacy rules from being more specific.

It is not clear what health officials meant by “Gig Harbor area.” People on the Tacoma side of the bridge often conflate the Gig Harbor and Key peninsulas. It is also unclear where the woman is being treated.

Gig Harbor Mayor Kit Kuhn said he was informed Friday of the first case, that of the Puyallup man at St. Anthony, in a phone call from county health officials.

“We are in contact with the hospital, and we got a briefing from the county,” Kuhn said. “The person has tested positive, but the person is in stable condition.”

Dr. Anthony Chen, director of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, said the St. Anthony patient is a man in his 50s with underlying health conditions.

“This patient is stable and improving,” Chen said at a Friday evening news conference in Tacoma.

The man went to the hospital March 4 with symptoms similar to pneumonia. He tested negative for that. A test was ordered for COVID-19 and performed by the University of Washington. It came back positive for coronavirus, Chen said. The department is awaiting confirmation from the state health lab.

Circle of contact

Investigators now will be working to determine who the man has had contact with and where he might have acquired the disease, Chen said. Chen said his department will be trying to determine as much as possible about the man’s recent activities, including whether he’s been working and where he’s been.

“We contact the people closest to the patient who could have been exposed,” said Edie Jeffers, the health department spokeswoman, on Monday. Unless there is a critical need, she said, there would be no public disclosure of that information.

“We inform the people who need to know,” she said.

Coronavirus is not a disease like measles, she explained, which can be spread from contact with surfaces. It requires close human contact.

“You have to be really close,” she said. “Close enough to inhale, or get it into your eyes.”

Chen said there are no plans for the health department to call for the cancellations of schools or public events at this time. Peninsula public schools remain open and no events have been canceled.

On Saturday, the health department said two people, both Tacoma residents, tested positive for COVID-19. On Sunday, a Lakewood woman in her 30s, was added.

One of the Tacoma patients 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.

“We have been expecting to see positive cases of COVID-19 in our community,” said 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.”

Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier said the county has been preparing for the virus to be confirmed in Pierce County.

“We knew this was going to happen,” Chen said. “There is no wall between Pierce County and King County. A lot of people go north every day.”

Turner said the first Gig Harbor patient has not traveled internationally. He been cooperating with investigators, Turner said.

Turner said the man had symptoms a few days before going to the hospital.

In addition, there were these developments:

▪ Mary Lyon Elementary in Tacoma will be closed Monday and Tuesday after a staff member tested presumptively positive for COVID-19. Tacoma Public Schools said the school would remain closed for two to five days “to allow time for the Health Department to identify people on campus who may have an exposure risk,” according to a statement on the district’s web site.

▪ Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland is moving to a distance-learning format due to coronavirus concerns. Classes will occur remotely through March 30, school officials said. Classes are canceled on Monday as to “allow faculty to finish developing materials appropriate for remote learning,” school officials said on the school website.

PLU, which has about 3,000 students, has had no reported cases of coronavirus, but the university is acting “out of an abundance of caution,” school officials said. University of Washington campuses announced last week that classes would transition to a remote format through the rest of the quarter.

▪ The University of Puget Sound announced a similar move on Monday. Virtual classes will be held online through Friday (March 13). Spring break for UPS students starts March 16.

The UPS campus will remain open and all activities other than in-person classes will continue as scheduled, including athletic events, music performances, and admission tours.

Students can choose to remain on campus or complete coursework from home or another location. All regular campus services will be available to any students remaining on campus.

This story was reported by Allison Needles, Josephine Peterson and Craig Sailor of The News Tribune and Jake Gregg of The Gateway.

This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 7:17 PM.