A new positive COVID-19 test result in Grays Harbor County was reported by Grays Harbor Public Health on Thursday and three more on Friday, bringing the total to 11.
As with the previous cases, “Public Health staff are reviewing the case and notifying close contacts,” read a Public Health statement. “The Grays Harbor Public Health Incident Management Team (IMT) remains prepared to respond if any additional cases are identified.”
Of the eight positive results, two were reported in March and nine so far this month.
Public Health is not releasing age, gender or general geographic information about positive test results to protect the privacy of patients, as required by federal law. Close contacts of the person who tested positive are contacted and asked to self-monitor for symptoms.
As Public Health Director Karolyn Holden told the Daily World last week, “if we learn that many people may have been exposed then we do a notification via the media.” She said the process used for reporting during the COVID-19 is “consistent with the way we have successfully managed the spread of other infectious diseases. We are required to safeguard protected public health information by law, and that does apply even during a pandemic like we are experiencing now.”
According to the state Department of Health, there have been 225 tests administered in Grays Harbor County with 1.2% coming back positive. These numbers were updated as of April 3 and don’t reflect the new case reported Thursday.
Statewide
According to the state Department of Health, as of Thursday — the most current numbers available — there have been 9,608 positive COVID-19 test results out of 88,044 total administered. That adds up to a positive test number of 8.7%. Statewide there have been 446 deaths attributed to the outbreak, according to the Department of Health.
The department said of its reporting process it is reporting confirmed cases, lab test results and deaths as of 11:59 p.m. the previous day on its coronavirus website, https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/Coronavirus.
Beginning April 4, the department was modifying its data system to log negative results differently, and during that transition, which is still ongoing, new negative test results will not be displayed.
Neighboring counties
Friday, the Pacific County Emergency Operations Center received notice that a resident from Pacific County, but currently in another state, has been diagnosed with COVID-19. However, that person has been out of the state for more than a month, according to operations center public information officer Pat Matlock, and “After extensive investigative efforts by the Health Department’s skilled nursing staff, there is no reason to believe that this case’s positive diagnose has caused any exposure in Pacific County.”
That individual was tested and is receiving treatment in another state. “The positive diagnosis is being attributed to Pacific County’s statistic because Pacific County is the diagnosed person’s place of residence,” said Matlock.
According to Pacific County Public Health, as of Thursday a reported 141 tests had been administered with no positive results in Pacific County.
Mason County Public Health is reporting 18 confirmed cases out of 502 tests administered as of Thursday. A new case was reported April 9 — a man in his 70s. Mason County Public Health provided a breakdown of its positive cases: one female in the 20-39 age range, six males and two females in the 40- to 59-year-old age range; five males and three females in the 60-79 age range; and one male 80 years or older.
Similar to Grays Harbor Public Health, Mason County Public Health said, “Due to Mason County being a small community, location data of positive cases will not be released to reduce the possibility of patient identification and protect personal health information. Identified positive cases are located throughout Mason County.”
Thursday, Thurston County Public Health reported one additional COVID-19 positive test result, bringing a total of 77 confirmed cases and one death. As of Thursday, 12 were hospitalized and 52 were considered recovered. Of the confirmed cases, 26% were in their 60s, 21% in their 40s, 18% in their 50s, and 14% in their 30s. Confirmed cases by gender broke down to 58% female (45 cases) and 42% male (32 cases).
Jefferson County Public Health’s latest numbers show 28 total positive confirmed cases, with 619 tests coming back negative. Of the positive cases, 19 were exposed in-county while the others are presumed to have been exposed outside Jefferson County. There were 12 results pending as of Thursday. Of the 28 positive cases, 16 were male and 12 were female. Ten o the cases were people in their 60s, with five positives coming from people in their 30s and four people in their 40s. There have been no deaths related to the coronavirus in the county.
Wahkiakum County had reported 17 total tests with two confirmed cases and no deaths, according to the state Department of Health.
