School-related COVID-19 outbreaks in Washington state reach 182 after case surge
News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash. 5/2/2021 Allison Needles, The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)
May 2 Washington state saw a total of 29 COVID-19 outbreaks with ties to K-12 schools in March, bringing the number of outbreaks occurring between August and March to a total of 182, according to an updated report released by the Department of Health on Friday.
The 182 outbreaks involve 708 individual COVID-19 cases.
Pierce County data also appeared on the report for the first time. The county contributed 26 of the outbreaks since August. The data had been missing from the report due to a three-month lag in updating the Washington Disease Reporting System, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department (TPCHD).
Gov. Jay Inslee today announced the rollback of three counties not meeting the Phase 3 Healthy Washington metrics for reopening activities.
The three counties returning to Phase 2 are:
Cowlitz County
Whitman County
âThese metric trends are driven by the virus and we must continue to do everything we can to sharpen our focus and keep COVID-19 activity down. We are so close to the end of the tunnel here â we have made tremendous progress and we must keep our focus,â
Inslee said. âItâs like a football game; we have done 95 yards on a 99 yard-drive. We canât let up now. These are not punitive actions; they are to save lives and protect public health.â