Number of new COVID-19 cases drops dramatically

MOSES LAKE/OTHELLO — Grant County only had four confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in the past week, from Monday, May 4, to Monday, May 11. Mattawa, Moses Lake and the Grand Coulee/Electric City area were where the new cases were reported. Mattawa went from 42 to 43 confirmed cases; Moses Lake gained two new cases, bringing their total to 36 cases. The Grand Coulee/Electric City area got an additional case, giving them their second. Royal City stayed at 12 confirmed cases, Warden at four, Quincy at 68, Ephrata at 16 and Soap Lake at four.

While the number of reported cases went down, the number of pending tests jumped from 69 last Monday to 96 this Monday. So far, 1,991 negative tests have been reported. The number of probable cases is at 34. Currently, only three people are hospitalized with COVID-19.

Of those confirmed cases, 82 are male and 104 are female. Thirteen cases are age 18 and younger. There are 81 in the 19- to 40-year-old range. In the 41- to 60-year-old range, 62 individuals have confirmed cases.

In Adams County, two new cases were reported between Monday, May 4, and Monday, May 11, bringing the total number of cases to 50. Both new cases were in Othello, which has 45 of the confirmed cases. Lind has three and Ritzville has two. Of those, all but three individuals in Othello are listed as recovered. No one is currently hospitalized.

So far, Adams County has had 305 COVID-19 tests come back negative.

Of the confirmed cases, four are in juveniles birth to 19 years old. There are 18 confirmed cases in both the 20- to 39-year-old and 40- to 59-year-old age groups. Ten cases are in individuals 60 to 79 years old.

As the number of new cases in COVID-19 begins to taper off, Samaritan Healthcare has had to take another look at its plans for the construction of a new hospital in Moses Lake. Hospital officials estimate that they have had a $15 million shortfall in operating revenue in the past two months.

Groundbreaking tentatively had been scheduled for late summer or early fall. But now hospital officials are delaying the project while they are dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on the hospital district’s finances and on the economy across the area of the district. Samaritan’s Chief Executive Officer Theresa Sullivan said no date has been established for the start of construction. It takes time to secure financing, according to Sullivan. Once the funding is secured, hospital officials will review the hospital’s overall financial picture, and analyze the impact of the outbreak on the economy in the district.

The budget shortfalls come from the cancellation of non-essential surgeries and services ordered by Gov. Jay Inslee as part of the effort to combat the outbreak. In addition, the hospital was required to prepare for an anticipated increase in COVID-19 patients. The cancellations have left a huge gap between actual revenues and what was forecast for 2020.

Revenue is not the only part of a budget, of course. Samaritan officials have taken steps, including voluntary temporary furloughs for employees and temporary pay cuts for administrators and medical professionals, to reduce expenses. With the revenue shortfall, cuts in expenses and money generated from other income sources were evaluated at the end of March, Samaritan recorded a net loss of $765,705 for the month.

Cheryl Schweizer contributed to this report.