Thurston County confirmed 702 COVID-19 cases and one death the week of June 6-12.
The person who died was a woman in her 70s, according to Thurston County Public Health and Social Services. This is the first confirmed death since May 25.
An additional 104 cases were added on Monday. In all, PHSS has recorded 50,642 cases and 380 deaths from March 2020 to Monday.
Of that total, PHSS considers 49,562 cases as recovered or recovering, meaning 1,080 confirmed cases remained active as of Monday.
Last week saw more confirmed cases than the week prior, upending a two-week downward trend. From May 30 to June 5, PHSS reported 557 cases and no deaths.
As of Sunday, the state Department of Health considers disease activity to be "high" in Thurston County — the most severe rating.
The county's case rate per 100,000 people reached 432.3 from May 22 to June 4, according to the state. This is down from a recent peak of 538.5 from May 13-26.
The record high case rate was 3,108.9 from Jan. 2-15.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention described the county's COVID-19 Community Level as "medium" as of Tuesday. The CDC determines community levels by weighing new hospital admission and inpatient bed metrics after considering cases per 100,000 in the past seven days.
Outbreaks and hospitalizations
PHSS was investigating 27 ongoing outbreaks at congregate care settings as of Monday. So far, there have been 219 such outbreaks — six more than the previous week.
At school settings, PHSS reported seven closures involving 23 cases the week of May 30 to June 5.
Olympia School District saw two closures with seven cases while North Thurston Public Schools had one closure with three cases. That same week, Tumwater School District had two closures with seven cases and Griffin School District had two closures with six cases.
PHSS confirmed eight hospitalizations occurred over the past week. Since the start of the pandemic, the data show 2,386 Thurston County residents with COVID-19 have been hospitalized at some point in their illness.
About 75% of county residents who were hospitalized had a known underlying condition, according to a June 8 weekly report. However, it's possible some had an unknown underlying condition.
Among the 379 who died before June 5, the report says 100% had a known underlying condition.
There were about 8.2 hospitalizations per 100,000 people from May 29 to June 4 in Thurston County, according to the latest state data. This rate has been fluctuating since reaching a recent peak of 11 from May 9-15.
The current record high rate was 37.8 which was recorded from Jan. 9-15.
As of Monday, about 89.9% of Intensive Care Unit beds were occupied over a seven-day period in the West region, which includes Thurston County and some of its neighbors. The data show 1.7% of ICU beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients.
Hospitals in the region were 90.3% full over a seven-day period, while COVID-19 patients accounted for 5.8%.
Vaccinations and tests
Just 66.2% of all Thurston residents completed their primary series of vaccinations as of Saturday, and 72.9% had at least initiated their primary series, according to state data.
Meanwhile, the data show 77.1% of Thurston County residents 5 and older have initiated vaccinations and 70% had completed their primary series.
As of May 9, 81.8% of the state population 5 and older had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 74.4% had completed their primary series. The state percentages include aggregate data from the Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs, both of which are not entirely reflected in the state's data dashboard.
In Thurston County, the state reports 59.1% of those 12 and older have received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Saturday. Across the state, about 58.8% of that population have gotten a booster as of June 11.
Thurston County PHSS continues to offer free vaccination events, including for booster shots, every week. Events are listed on their coronavirus vaccine information website.
Eligible residents can also find appointments at local providers such as pharmacies by visiting the state's Vaccine Locator website.
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.
About 13.2% of confirmed molecular and antigen tests returned a positive result in Thurston County from May 21-27, according to DOH data. Over the same period, the state had an overall test positivity rate of 13.8%.
The DOH says it does not separate antigen test data from molecular test data because negative antigen tests are often not reported.
Testing results and by extension case counts are undercounted due to the availability of at-home testing. For its part, PHSS does not count such tests because they are considered suspect, according to county spokesperson Meredith Mathis.
Anyone who tests at home can report their results to Washington's COVID-19 hotline at 800 — 525 — 0127. Thurston County residents may also call PHSS at 360-867-2610.
People can get PCR tested at pharmacies such as Rite Aid and Walgreens. Over-the-counter COVID-19 antigen tests are also available at pharmacies and on-order from the state Department of Health and federal government.
In the region
Pierce County has confirmed 198,846 total COVID-19 cases with 1,356 deaths as of June 7. Pierce County has a population of about 927,000.
Lewis County has had a total of 18,322 confirmed cases with 257 deaths as of Sunday per state data. Lewis County has a population of almost 83,000.
Grays Harbor County has seen a total of 17,627 cases with 201 deaths as of Sunday, according to state data. Grays Harbor County has a population of about 75,000.
Mason County has reported 12,201 confirmed cases with 143 deaths as of Monday. Mason County has a population of about 69,000.
In the nation, state and world
The state of Washington has confirmed over 1.6 million COVID-19 cases and 12,991 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to Sunday.
In the U.S., about 85.6 million COVID-19 cases had been reported as of Tuesday with over 1 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The U.S. population is about 330 million.
Globally, more than 536.1 million people had contracted the virus and over 6.3 million people had died of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, the data show.
