COVID-19 case rates continue to climb in Grays Harbor County as the the department of health released its most recent numbers on Monday.
A total of 54 new cases were reported on Monday, bringing the total overall case count for Grays Harbor County to 1,665.
Case rates at Stafford Creek Correctional Facility were also rising and those cases are included in the county’s overall figures.
In Monday’s update, the county reports 365 active cases and no new deaths as the death count remained at 21 as of Monday.
Stafford Creek reported 448 inmate COVID cases as of Friday, an increase of 74 from the previous day’s reporting. Stafford Creek also reports 40 staff members as COVID positive, an increase of eight from Thursday’s numbers.
No new deaths were reported from the facility, keeping the death count at just one inmate death since the COVID pandemic began in March.
Washington state has seen a dramatic increase in COVID-19 inmate populations, mirroring a trend happening across the nation. The state DOC reported 3,385 inmate confirmed cases (2,148 active) with four deaths and 632 staff confirmed cases with one death as of Friday.
According to a joint report by the Associated Press and The Marshall Project, one in five state and federal inmates in the United States has tested positive for COVID-19, with new cases peaking last week.
Grays Harbor County, as well as Pacific County, remain in Phase 3 of the state’s reopening program. Seventeen counties are in Phase 3 with 22 counties in Phase 2. No counties are in the highest risk Phase 1 or the lowest risk Phase 4 categories.
According to the Washington State Department of Health’s Phase and Risk Assessment website, Grays Harbor County sits at 463.9 newly diagnosed confirmed and probable cases (over previous two weeks) per 100,000 residents as of Thursday.
The website also shows that as of Thursday, the West Region — which includes Grays Harbor, Thurston, Lewis and Pierce counties — showed 91.7% of adult staffed acute care hospital beds and 82% of adult ICU staffed beds are occupied, neither statistic meeting the below 80% goal.
Of those acute and ICU hospital beds, 13.5% and 21%, are occupied by COVID-19 patients in the West Region, respectively.
Pacific County
On Friday, Pacific County Public Health announced 15 new cases of COVID-19 in the county, and one additional death, bringing the total deaths for the pandemic to four.
It’s the first COVID-19 related death in the county since Aug. 25.
With the 15 cases Friday, the county’s total for the pandemic rose to 545. Of those cases, 366 are “confirmed” — testing positive on a PCR test — and 179 are “probable,” meaning they tested positive on a less accurate rapid antigen test. As of Friday there were 56 active cases, those currently monitored by public health personnel. Active cases are spread throughout the county.
The county’s rate of cases per 100,000 population over the course of two weeks Friday was 323 — it was 332.7 in the county’s weekly report two days earlier.
Pacific County Public Health posts updates three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday on its Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/PacificCountyPublicHealthHumanServices/, and its website, www.pacificcountycovid19.com.
