PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — People are out, on the move and spreading COVID-19 cases in Pierce County in record numbers.
According to the Tacoma Pierce County Health department a sharp rise in cases began almost immediately after the county moved to phase two of the statewide Safe Start program to reopen businesses.
“Things are not looking good for us,” said department director Dr. Anthony Chen. “Over the weekend, on Saturday, we recorded our highest daily case count at 121.”
A graph from the health department's website shows the influx of new cases. In April the county experienced what was thought to be a spike. With people staying home new cases plunged in June. Now in late July cases are skyrocketing again surpassing diagnosed cases in April.
“Our average case counts have just been a straight line, if not starting to look a little bit exponential since June 14th,” Chen said. He added the spike is not simply the result of more testing.
“There are some people who want to spin this narrative of, oh yeah, it’s just more testing nothing is going on. We’re testing more but our positivity rate is going up.”
Cox Media Group
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