Coronavirus updates: State passes 93k cases
Updated at 2:35 p.m.
Pierce County reported 98 new COVID-19 cases Sunday and no additional deaths.
County totals are now 8,594 confirmed cases and 180 deaths since the first case in the coronavirus pandemic was recorded March 6.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department has reported 830 cases in the past 14 days. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 people is 92.
Average cases per day over the past 14 days are 59.3.
With a six-day data lag required in the state’s Safe Start measurements, the county’s case rate per 100,000 is 78.
Testing is available at various sites in the county. For more information on testing sites, go to www.tpchd.org/covidtest.
Sunday’s geographical case totals for Pierce County are listed below with previous day’s totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 219 (218)
▪ Central Pierce County: 502 (492)
▪ East Pierce County: 313 (308)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 370 (366)
▪ Frederickson: 342 (337)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 235 (234)
▪ Graham: 293 (292)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 67 (66)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 296 (295)
▪ Lakewood: 778 (753)
▪ Parkland: 452 (449)
▪ Puyallup: 511 (503)
▪ South Hill: 458 (455)
▪ South Pierce County: 233 (no change)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 91 (no change)
▪ Spanaway: 380 (378)
▪ Tacoma: 2,643 (2,620)
▪ University Place: 326 (no change)
▪ Unknown: 85 (82)
State reports 475 cases Saturday
Updated at 10 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Saturday reported 475 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. The department is no longer reporting deaths on weekends.
Pierce County reported 53 new cases and one on Saturday. Pierce County had a total of 180 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Saturday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 93,035 cases and 2,190 deaths, up from 92,560 cases on Friday.
King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 23,805 cases and 784 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 11,566 cases and 263 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 8,648.
All counties in Washington have cases.
Here’s another Pierce County school district that won’t return to in-person until 2021
Updated at 10 a.m.
The Sumner-Bonney Lake School District will not return to the classroom until January at the earliest in light of the most recent surge of reported COVID-19 cases in Pierce County.
The 10,000-student school district announced the delay in a message to families.
“At this time, we’re looking to start hybrid learning for elementary students sometime in January and in early February (beginning of second semester) for middle school and high school students,” Superintendent Laurie Dent said in the statement.
During the first week of October, Pierce County’s COVID-19 case counts rose above the state-recommended threshold for school districts to return to in-person learning.
The state recommends that counties with case counts between 25 to 75 per 100,000 over 14 days begin incorporating hybrid models of in-person learning and online school while monitoring COVID-19 case counts. As of Oct. 8, Pierce County had reached a 14-day case rate per 100,000 of 87.4.
Dent told The News Tribune it was a tough decision, but students are safe with online learning and hard-working teachers.
“We want to make sure that the return to school is as safe and easy as possible for students and families,” she said.
She said many parents felt the same way about waiting.
“Parents agreed that bouncing students back and forth between models would be difficult emotionally and academically,” she said.
Sumner-Bonney Lake students have been learning remotely since March when the state called for all schools to close to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
This story was originally published October 11, 2020 at 10:24 AM with the headline "Coronavirus updates: State passes 93k cases."
