There were 61 cases of COVID-19 in Grays Harbor County reported between Oct. 22-30, and one new death, bringing the total deaths in the county to 12, according to Grays Harbor Public Health.
A data glitch has been addressed and Public Health is now reporting most numbers daily at noon on its website, http://www.healthygh.org/directory/covid19/casecount.
Tuesday, Public Health reported just one new case of COVID-19, bringing the total case count to 742. The number of active cases and active contact investigations remains unavailable, but 13 new contacts were reported Tuesday, bringing the total contact investigations to 1,262.
Of the 12 deaths, one was reported in July, five in August, four in September and two in October.
The Hispanic community continues to be disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 in the county. As of Tuesday, there were 274 cases in that ethnic group — nearly 37% of total cases — compared to 393 among whites, just under 53%. Hispanics make up only about 10% of the county population. Statewide, Hispanics make up 39% of positive cases so far, according to state data, but have accounted for 14% of the state’s deaths with 331 compared to 1,604 whites, 69%.
By age group, the plurality of cases in Grays Harbor County, 248, are reported in the 20- to 39-year-old group, followed by 206 in the 40-59 range. The next highest total is 110 in the 60-79-year-old range.
According to the state coronavirus dashboard, Grays Harbor County had a rate of 140.2 cases per 100,000 population the two weeks prior to Sunday, Nov. 1. The state rate during that time was 117.5. The county has gained some in the testing rate, 256.4 per 100,000 population in the week prior to Nov. 1 — the state number was 224.7.
The percentage of those tests coming back positive the prior week was 3.3% in Grays Harbor County, 3.8% statewide. The state dashboard has the county at 15,882 tests administered as of Nov. 1. The death rate stood at 1.5% of confirmed cases in Grays Harbor County; the state rate is 2.2%, with 109,354 confirmed cases and 2,378 deaths. Statewide nearly 2.5 million tests have been administered.
Free COVID-19 testing continues this week at the Elma fairgrounds parking lot: Nov. 4, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Nov. 5, 8 a.m. to noon; Nov. 6, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Nov. 7, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Testing sites are open to anyone who needs or wants a COVID-19 test with no appointment required. People under the age of 18 are required to be accompanied by an adult. A valid phone number and address is necessary, but no identification is required. No questions regarding immigration status will be asked. There are no public restrooms at test site locations. Support for testing is available in both English and Spanish at all locations.
