GRANT COUNTY - More people have recovered from the novel coronavirus in Grant County than tested positive since last Friday, the first time this has happened since the Grant County Health District began reporting recoveries.

There were 171 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Grant County as of Friday evening with four new cases reported in the Quincy area, according to the Grant County Health District.

As of Friday, 71 people have recovered, according to the health district. Seventeen people have recovered since last Friday, compared to 16 additional people who have gotten sick. Days without new reported cases have become more common for the first time since early weeks of the virus’ spread in Grant County.

There were also 34 probable cases and 154 tests still pending results. Nine people sickened with the novel coronavirus are currently hospitalized, including one additional hospitalization reported earlier this week.

As of Friday evening, Quincy had 59 confirmed cases. Moses Lake reported 36, and the Mattawa area had 41 confirmed cases.

Ephrata reported 14 confirmed cases and Royal City had twelve. Warden and Soap Lake each reported four, and the Grant County portion of the Othello area had a single case. The Grand Coulee/Electric City reported its first case Tuesday.

The Coulee City area has not had a confirmed case from their communities, according to the health district.

In addition to tests that have come back positive, 1,658 have come back negative. As of Friday evening, around 9.3 percent of Grant County tests have come back positive, down from around 13.5 percent at the end of March, compared with around 7.4 percent statewide, according to statistics from the state Department of Health.

Almost 62 percent of positive cases thus far were women, while around 82 percent have been 60 years old or younger.