A high number of COVID-19 cases reported in Grant, Adams counties

MOSES LAKE/OTHELLO — The past week saw a higher number of new cases of COVID-19 than usual in Grant and Adams counties. From Monday, June 1, to Monday, June 8, Grant County has had 14 new cases and Adams County has had 16 new cases.

Quincy and Moses Lake had the biggest increases among cities in Grant County with five new cases each, bringing Quincy to 86 cases and Moses Lake to 63 cases. The Mattawa area and the rural area of Othello in Grant County each had two new cases. Mattawa now has 57 total cases and rural Othello has three cases.

Royal City held steady with 12 cases, Warden with six, Ephrata with 17, Soap Lake with four and the Grand Coulee/Electric City area with two cases.

In all, Grant County has had 250 confirmed cases of COVID-19. So far, 3,392 tests have come back negative. One hundred fifty-eight tests are pending. Currently, only three people are hospitalized and 124 people have recovered.

Of confirmed cases, 114 are male and 136 are female. Of those newborn to 18 years old, 25 individuals have COVID-19. One hundred twelve individuals in the 19- to 40-year-old range have tested positive. In the 41- to 60-year-old age range, 79 have tested positive. Thirty-one people in the 61- to 80-year-old age range have tested positive. Three people over the age of 80 have tested positive for COVID-19.

As of Monday, June 8, there are now 86 individuals in Adams County who have tested positive for COVID-19. All but seven of those are from Othello. Lind, which has reported three cases, and Ritzville, which has reported four cases, did not have any new cases this week. All of the 16 new cases reported this week were in Othello. Of the 86 cases, 55 have recovered.

So far 661 tests have been performed in Adams County. Of those, 551 have come back negative. Ten test results are pending.

Karen Potts, community health director for the Adams County Health Department, said they started seeing an increase in positive cases the past couple of weeks due to large gatherings over Mother’s Day and Memorial Day weekends.

“Folks are doing things we’ve asked them not to do,” Potts said. “We’re not seeing the social distancing and masking as we would like to see. I think there is an attitude of ‘I can’t get sick if I only see people I’m related to.’”

Potts did say that the county has stepped up testing, which may also be one of the reasons the number of positive cases has increased.

Rachal Pinkerton may be reached via email at [email protected].