Eighth Grant County resident has died of COVID-19

GRANT COUNTY — A Mattawa man in his 50s is the eighth Grant County resident to die after testing positive for the coronavirus, and the fourth death reported in just over a month, according to Grant County Health District.

Though the death was reported by health officials on Monday, the resident died late last week, according to health district staff. Reporting has been a slower process in recent weeks, said Stephanie Shopbell, Environmental Health Manager for the health district, since the state changed its criteria for listing a death as caused by COVID-19.

Earlier on, a coronavirus death was reported fairly quickly after the patient passed on if they had been diagnosed with the disease and their condition had continued to worsen leading up to their death, Shopbell said. Now, that figure won’t be reported by the district until the agency receives the patient’s death certificate listing the cause of death as COVID-19, Shopbell said.