Coronavirus updates: State reaches 35,898 cases with surge in Eastern Washington
This page includes coronavirus developments around Washington state for Sunday, July 5.
Updated at 5:40 p.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Sunday reported 651 new cases of COVID-19 and five additional deaths.
Statewide totals have reached 35,898 cases and 1,359 deaths, up from 35,247 cases and 1,354 deaths on Friday.
King County continues to to be the hardest hit with 10,941 cases and 620 deaths. Yakima County has 7,489 cases and 160 deaths, while Snohomish County has 3,696 cases and 175 deaths. Pierce County reported 52 new cases and no deaths on Sunday, bringing its totals to 2,803 cases and 90 deaths.
Garfield, the state’s least populous county, remains the only county without a reported case. Six other counties are reporting fewer than 10 cases each.
There are 140 cases that have not been assigned to a county.
The total number of people who have been hospitalized in the state stood at 4,482 on Friday.
There have been 612,706 tests conducted in the state with 5.9% coming back positive.
The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which are given to patients while the virus is presumably still active in the body.
Pierce County reports 52 new cases
Updated at 1:45 p.m.
Pierce County reported 52 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday and no additional deaths.
There have now been 2,803 cases and 90 deaths recorded since the county’s first case was reported March 6, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Daily totals can change as the county receives new information about cases, finds duplicate data or is assigned cases originally attributed to other counties.
The county has reported 520 cases in the past 14 days, according to the health department. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 population is 57.6. The county has averaged 37.1 cases per day over the past 14 days.
As of Sunday, the county reported an estimated 749 still-active cases.
Testing is available at various sites in the county. For more information on local testing sites, go to www.tpchd.org/covidtest.
Sunday’s geographical case totals are listed below with Saturday’s day’s totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 56 (54)
▪ Central Pierce County: 184 (183)
▪ East Pierce County: 69 (66)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 122 (120)
▪ Frederickson: 91 (no change)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 75 (no change)
▪ Graham: 78 (no change)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 12 (no change)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 80 (75)
▪ Lakewood: 293 (287)
▪ Parkland: 160 (no change)
▪ Puyallup: 193 (185)
▪ South Hill: 143 (no change)
▪ South Pierce County: 55 (no change)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 33 (no change)
▪ Spanaway: 95 (93)
▪ Tacoma: 917 (896)
▪ University Place: 121 (117)
▪ Unknown: 26 (28)
Second bus driver dis from complications related to COVID-19
Updated at 9:45 a.m.
A second bus driver has died from complications related to COVID-19, according to a public transportation agency in Washington state.
King County Metro Transit said Mike Winkler, 71, died June 17 after several weeks fighting the virus, The Seattle Times reported. His domestic partner Karla Mestl said he contracted COVID-19 in March.
Winkler drove buses for 32 years and worked most of his career out of the North Base in Shoreline.
“Some people called him the godfather of North Base, or the grandfather of North Base,” retired Metro driver and friend Greg Patterson said.
Winkler appeared gruff to some, but he was “a gentle soul and a very generous person,” said Mestl, who was also a bus driver.
Winkler was preparing to retire this year, Mestl said, adding that they were planning to move with the seasons between Alaska and Montana.
A memorial is being planned and details will be provided to his colleagues, said Kenneth Price, president of Local 587 in Seattle.
The announcement came after the deaths of Metro driver Samina Hameed, 59, in April and the March deaths of Community Transit driver Scott Ryan, 41, and Washington State Ferries dock employee Esther Bryant-Kyles, 64.
Surge in cases in Eastern Washington
Updated at 9:45 a.m.
While the coronavirus at first pounded the greater Seattle area, the epicenter has now moved east across the Cascade Range thanks to exploding case loads in June. Washington is seeing rising cases of COVID-19, driven in large part by increasing numbers in Yakima, Benton, Franklin and Spokane counties, the largest communities in eastern Washington.
“We are seeing very high activity in Yakima, Benton and Franklin counties,″ Dr. Kathy Lofy, the state health officer, said on Monday.
It’s no coincidence that Gov. Jay Inslee has visited Yakima, Spokane and the Tri-Cities of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco in the past two weeks to urge citizens to take greater precautions.
The numbers are stark. In the past week, more than 40% of the state’s 2,957 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus occurred within those three metro areas, which make up less than 15% of the state’s population, according to the state Department of Health.
Yakima County, with 250,000 residents, has nearly as many cases as the neighboring state of Oregon, which has more than 4 million residents.
As of Thursday, Yakima County had recorded 7,270 cases and 159 deaths, according to the state Department of Health. Oregon has seen around 9,000 cases.
Yakima County’s surge of cases is partly driven by the large number of so-called essential workers in the county’s giant farm and food-production industries, officials have said. Those employees cannot work from home.
Benton and Franklin counties, which constitute the Tri-Cities metropolitan area of 300,000 people, also have big farm and food processing industries. The Tri-Cities have had 3,608 cases, including a record 215 on Wednesday, with 115 deaths.
Franklin (45) and Yakima (35.6) counties have the second and third highest rates of newly confirmed daily cases per 100,000 residents among metropolitan areas on the West Coast, the Harvard Global Health Institute reported this week. They trail only Imperial County in California.
The number of cases in the Tri-Cities includes some 220 staff and inmates at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center, the largest prison outbreak in the state.
Yakima and the Tri-Cities were the only communities in the state still in Phase I of Inslee’s gradual reopening process from virus restrictions, which meant they were mostly in lockdown. However on Friday authorities announced that Benton, Franklin and Yakima counties had been approved to move to a modified Phase 1. That allows more activity, like some outdoor seating at restaurants and limited in-store retail business.
Spokane County, which has 520,000 residents, is in Stage II with many businesses open. But the county has seen its once-low case numbers spike, in large part because people are going out more and because many residents are declining to wear masks.
Spokane County on Thursday reported a total of 1,443 cases and 41 deaths during the pandemic.
On Tuesday, Spokane County reported 81 new cases over a 24-hour period, its highest number since the outbreak began.
Mariners adjusting to new safety protocols
Updated at 9:45 a.m.
Seattle Mariners’ manager Scott Servais couldn’t think of the last time he wasn’t involved in a baseball game on the 4th of July.
“I don’t think it’s ever happened,” Servais said in his early-morning press conference from T-Mobile Park on a Zoom call with reporters. “That’s a great question.”
The Mariners, instead, were in day two of their ‘Summer Camp’ practice session, ramping up for a return to a shortened MLB season amid the coronavirus pandemic toward the end of the month.
“I said to someone last night that it’s too bad we weren’t able to open up our season today,” Servais said. “I think it would’ve been awesome if it all could’ve come together and would’ve really been a rallying point for everyone around our country. It’s something we certainly need right now.”
Servais lamented the loss of family gatherings on this year’s bizarre Independence Day, the loss of cookouts, and of course, the absence of baseball.
“Around all those other things, baseball always weaved its way in there,” Servais said. “It was on the radio, watching a game on TV, how’s the local club doing? You’re playing as a kid, you’re at a youth tournament — baseball has always been weaved into the 4th of July. So luckily, we get to get out onto the field today and work out, but it’s not the same as playing a game.”
Friday marked the first day of the Summer Camp, which meant the first day of a ‘new normal,’ — players wearing face masks, social distancing, sanitizing, etc. For the most part, Servais said he thought things went smoothly.
“It’s a change,” Servais said. “It’s different.”
There were a few kinks to work out. Servais said he realized how many people were gathered closely around the batting cages at one point. With four or five hitters in a group, hitting coaches, video folks, it can get crowded quickly.
“Before you look up, you’ve got 18 people standing in an area that we shouldn’t be in,” Servais said. “So we have to make a few adjustments there. But I think the pitchers have done a good job with it. They all go in, get their three throwing balls that they’re going to throw with and get their long toss in. Everyone is making adjustments. We’ll probably feel better about it 10 days in.”
Servais said he feels the team and coaching staff are taking the situation seriously. With a 60-game season, staying healthy and continually testing negative for the virus is paramount to fielding a competitive team this season.
“I’ve addressed it with the team,” Servais said. “It’s really, really important — the personal decisions you make not only affect you, they affect your teammates. It’s about being a good teammate. And you affect that teammate’s family.
“You will see a few teams that will be severely affected by it and you can imagine, if you lose two or three of your starting pitchers, or a couple of your catchers, now you’re digging deep into that taxi squad and are playing guys that maybe don’t have much experience and aren’t quite ready to compete at this level.”
Wasington state reaches 35K cases
Updated at 9:45 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Saturday reported 469 new cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths.
Washington state reported the first confirmed coronavirus case in the United States in January.
Statewide totals have reached 35,247 COVID-19 cases and 1,354 fatalities, up from 34,778 cases and 1,352 deaths on Friday.
King County continues to have the most cases, 10,782 with 619 deaths. Yakima County has 7,396 cases and 160 deaths, while Snohomish County has 3,661 cases and 173 deaths. Pierce County reported 47 new cases and no deaths on Saturday, bringing its totals to 2,751 cases and 90 deaths.
Garfield, the state’s least populous county, remains the only county without a reported case. Six other counties are reporting fewer than 10 cases each.
There are 85 cases that have not been assigned to a county.
There were 34 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 admitted to state hospitals on June 26, the most recent date with complete data. The total number of people who have been hospitalized in the state stood at 4,473 on Friday.
There have been 607,276 tests conducted in the state with 5.8% coming back positive.
The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which are given to patients while the virus is presumably still active in the body.
This story was originally published July 5, 2020 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Coronavirus updates: State reaches 35,898 cases with surge in Eastern Washington."
