Health district warns most vulnerable to take heed

GRANT COUNTY - There are now 23 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Grant County, including a second case in Moses Lake and two new cases each in Quincy and Mattawa, according to the Grant County Health District.

There are also currently three “probable” cases, according to the health district. Probable cases have either tested positive at a third-party lab and are pending confirmation at the Washington State Public Health Lab or are pending tests that are epidemiologically linked to previously confirmed cases, according to the health district.

As infections continue to spread throughout Washington, state and local officials are warning those over the age of 60, those with underlying health conditions or those with a compromised immune system to shelter in place for their own safety.

"Shelter-in-place essentially means, please stay home," the health district wrote in a statement. "Do not go to the store, do not go to work and try to avoid contact with people outside your immediate household."

All other Grant County residents are also urged to stay at home unless necessary.

Statewide, over 2000 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus as of Sunday night, with confirmed cases in at least 29 of the state’s 39 counties, according to state and local health officials.

Grant County has been hit disproportionately hard for a county of its size according to data from the state Department of Health--as of Sunday afternoon, only King, Snohomish, Pierce, Skagit, Spokane and Island counties have reported more positive cases.

County health officials have long since stopped publically releasing a full list of public areas where those infected with COVID-19 have recently been, instead cautioning that residents should assume the virus is already in their communities.

Two Sundays ago, on March 8, Grant County had one confirmed case of the novel coronavirus, a Quincy man in his 80s whose death was announced that day.

By the next Sunday, March 15, the Grant County Health District had reported there were three confirmed cases of COVID-19 inside the county, including a Mattawa priest in his 40s. It also reported its first confirmed case of transmission within the community, as a Quincy man in his 60s tested positive after having close contact with the county’s first case.

Seven days later, the number of confirmed cases has ballooned. In that time, an increasing number of cases of community spread of the virus have been reported, but the jump in confirmed cases is also due in large part to a recent uptick in the availability of testing supplies.

Private labs started offering to analyze test kits sent directly by healthcare providers around two weeks ago, widening the pipeline, though in some cases patients have reported that the state laboratory, which has to confirm results from third-party vendors, has declined to run those tests.

At Samaritan Clinic on Pioneer, a Respiratory Virus Evaluation Center has been opened to help streamline the testing process and separate those who may be infectious.

Despite hiccups, Dr. Andrea Carter, Chief Medical Officer at Samaritan, said in an interview Wednesday that significantly more testing has taken place in recent days than in weeks prior--though she noted that testing would still likely have to increase in the future as the outbreak continues to spread.

“Ideally, we would have drive-up testing, because the main goal is to avoid exposure,” Carter said. “So ideally if you have people with mild symptoms they could drive up, you could get their name and information, swab them and send them home to self-isolate.”

“However, we’re not quite there yet,” she added.

As of Sunday evening, ninety-three tests of the 116 completed tests from Grant County residents have come back negative, according to the health district. The health district is also reporting that an estimated 146 tests are pending results, though area hospitals and the health district report that number is likely an undercount.

"COVID-19 testing has become much more readily available to our residents, which we are very thrilled about," the health district wrote on its website March 10. "Because of this, we are not aware of every test being submitted, and therefore, are no longer able to report the number of people being tested."