Thurston COVID-19 Cases Highest in Two Months, and Majority Are Among the Unvaccinated

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Thurston County confirmed two new COVID-19 deaths and 279 new cases in the last week, primarily among the unvaccinated.

A man in his 80s died due to COVID-19 on July 19 and a woman in her 60s died on July 21, according to data from Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.

Disease activity in Thurston County has been increasing in recent weeks, as it has across the state, PHSS director Schelli Slaughter said.

"We really want to encourage people to gather responsibly, especially for those that are unvaccinated," Slaughter said. "This is a very serious illness. This pandemic is far from over. Please get vaccinated. Please wear a mask, especially around others if you are not vaccinated."

Slaughter made her remarks during a Board of County Commissioners agenda-setting meeting on Tuesday. She said the currently available vaccines are effective at preventing death.

Regional hospital capacity is "extremely full" with 89.1% of acute beds and 5.4% of COVID-19 intensive care unit beds currently occupied, Slaughter said.

"This equates to 91 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in acute beds and 10 in regional ICU beds," Slaughter said.

Since the first COVID-19 case was recorded in March 2020, PHSS data show 726 people have been hospitalized and 11,076 cases are considered recovered or recovering. In all, the county had confirmed 11,691 cases and 100 deaths as of Monday.

State data indicates Thurston County's case rate increased to 119.9 per 100,000 people between July 5-18. This rate is up from the most recent low of 75.6 from June 21 to July 4, per the data.

The last time the county had a comparable case rate was around the end of May and start of June, according to state data.

About 9.3% of COVID-19 tests returned positive results from July 12-18, the data show. This percentage is higher than the state's less than 2% target and the most recent low of 3.6% from June 21-27, per the data.

Vaccination progress

Most of the county was still not fully vaccinated as of Thursday, according to the latest available state data.

Just 49.1% of the total county population has been fully vaccinated and 53.4% have initiated vaccinations, per the data. The county's vaccination rate has only increased by single-digit percentage points for the past several weeks.

For those 16 and older, state data indicates 58.6% have been fully vaccinated and 63.5% have initiated vaccinations — still significantly below the goal of at least initiating vaccinations in 70% of the 16 and older population. The state as a whole reached 70 percent on July 14 — about two weeks after the state largely reopened.

Thurston County continues to rank ninth out of 39 counties in vaccination rates, according to state data. The county is ahead of its immediate neighbors, per the data.



San Juan County currently leads with 75.1% of its 17,340 population having initiated vaccination as of Thursday, the data show. More notably, the data indicates 68.4% of King County's 2.26 million population has initiated vaccination.

Although masks are no longer required in many settings, county health officer Dimyana Abdelmalek continues to ask all residents to continue masking in public indoor settings until 70 percent of the population is vaccinated.

Thurston County PHSS is still offering free vaccination events every week. Events are listed on their coronavirus vaccine information website. Although no longer required, people are still encouraged to pre-register for these events through the state's PrepMod website.

Residents also can find appointments at local providers such as pharmacies by visiting the state's Vaccine Locator website. Many supermarket pharmacies are taking walk-ins for vaccines.

Those who have difficulty scheduling appointments online can call the Department of Health vaccine hotline at 888-856-5816 or the Thurston County Public Health and Social Services line at 360-867-2610. Information for Spanish speakers is available at these numbers as well.

In the region

— Pierce County has confirmed 52,745 total COVID-19 cases with 631 deaths as of July 23.

— Grays Harbor County has seen a total of 4,765 confirmed and probable cases with 80 deaths as of Sunday, according to state data.

— Lewis County Public Health & Social Services has seen a total of 5,530 confirmed and probable cases with 80 deaths as of Sunday, per state data.

— Mason County reported 2,368 confirmed cases with 37 deaths as of July 23.

In the state, nation and world

The state of Washington had reported a total of 469,308 COVID-19 cases and 6,089 deaths as of Monday.

In the U.S., 34.6 million cases had been reported as of Tuesday with more than 611,000 deaths.

Globally, over 195 million people had contracted the virus and more than 4.17 million people had died of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, the data show.