COVID-19 activity fell in Thurston County in late July, lowering transmission risks.
Public Health and Social Services reported 499 additional cases and two deaths for the week of Aug. 1-7. This followed 487 cases and 10 deaths reported the week of July 25-31.
Twelve people died of COVID over the past two weeks, including six women: two in their 70s, two in their 80s and two in their 90s. Six men also died: two in their 50s, one in his 70s, two in their 80s and one in his 90s.
Though the latest weekly case count was slightly higher than the previous one, both weeks were lower than the 721 cases reported the week of July 18-24. For the week of Aug. 8-14, PHSS had already reported 420 additional cases as of Wednesday.
In all, PHSS has confirmed 55,679 cases and 422 deaths since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. However, case counts are under-counted due to the widespread use of at-home tests that are often not officially recorded.
The Washington state Department of Health continued to describe virus activity in Thurston County as "high," the most severe rating. However, the county's case rate per 100,000 people fell from 259.5 between July 5-11 to 158.8 between July 26 to Aug. 1, according to the state.
Though an improvement, the county's case rate remains above 100, the state's threshold for "high" activity.
As of Aug. 4, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention ranked Thurston County's Community Level as "low." Two weeks prior, the county had a "high" rating.
Thurston County shared that low rating with most of its immediate neighbors, except Mason County which was labeled as "medium."
With a "low" rating, the CDC recommends people wear masks if they experience symptoms, test positive or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. People should also wear masks on public transportation, according to CDC guidance.
The CDC determines community levels by weighing new hospital admission and inpatient bed data after considering cases per 100,000 in the past seven days.
There were about 10.3 hospital admissions per 100,000 Thurston County residents over a seven-day period ending on Monday, according to data from the CDC.
Around 7.6% of staffed in-patient beds were being used by patients with confirmed COVID-19 over the same period, the data shows.
Over a seven-day period ending Tuesday, state DOH data indicates 83.1% of Intensive Care Unit beds were occupied in the West region, which includes Thurston County and some of its neighbors. The data show 14.4% of ICU beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients.
Hospitals in the region were 90.6% full over the seven-day period, while COVID-19 patients accounted for 11.1%.
PHSS recorded 17 hospitalizations in Thurston County from Aug. 4-10. In all, county data show 2,696 COVID patients have been hospitalized at some point in their illness since the start of the pandemic.
About 75% of county residents who were hospitalized had a known underlying condition, according to the Tuesday weekly report. But it’s possible some had an unknown underlying condition.
Among the people died before Sunday, the report says 100% had a known underlying condition.
PHSS has been investigating 39 ongoing outbreaks at congregate care settings as of Wednesday. In all, there have been 264 such outbreaks — nine more than two weeks ago.
