Thurston County reported 9 new cases of COVID-19 as the county makes steady progress in its vaccination efforts.
The added cases brings the county's total to 7,516 cases with 72 deaths, according to data from Thurston County Public Health and Social Services. Since the county reported it's first case last March, 343 people have been hospitalized and 6,794 cases are considered recovered or recovering.
Department director Schelli Slaughter said 88% of regional acute hospital beds are full with 8.2% of those beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. She added 14.9% of ICU beds remain occupied by COVID-19 patients.
Currently, there are five ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks at congregate care settings, including three at nursing facilities, one at an adult family home and another at an assisted living facility. In all, the county has seen 50 outbreaks in such settings to-date.
Vaccine supply and events
Regarding vaccines, Slaughter said 79,217 doses have been administered in Thurston County. She added 19.5% of county residents have received their first dose and 11.87% are fully vaccinated. That's up from about 15% having received their first dose and 9% being fully vaccinated last week.
Over the last week, Slaughter said Thurston County providers received 9,710 doses. For its part, the county administered 3,947 of those doses at various events, including at South Puget Sound Community College.
"We had four days of successful events at South Puget Sound Community College, which was our first weekend operating that event," Slaughter said. "I just want to say a special thanks to all of the volunteers and staff that made that possible."
United Way of Thurston County helped organize volunteers for the county's recent mass vaccination events and will be on the lookout for more volunteers over the next few weeks, executive director Chris Wells previously told The Olympian.
Looking ahead to next week, Slaughter said providers in the Thurston County region are expecting to receive 11,380 total doses, including 8,740 first doses and 2,640 second doses. She added the county health department plans to administer 5,140 doses this week at various events.
Slaughter said the county plans to host mass vaccination events at South Puget Sound Community College again this week, Wednesday through Sunday. More details on the events will be shared soon, she said.
In the region
In the state, nation and world
The state Department of Health has reported a total of 350,506 cases and 5,135 deaths as of Sunday.
In the U.S., more than 29.5 million cases had been reported as of Tuesday with more than 536,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Globally, more than 120.6 million cases had been reported and more than 2.66 million people had died as of Tuesday.
