Five more COVID-19 deaths have been announced in Grant County during the current case surge, which hdas seen 33 additional cases in local towns in the past week, with a 25.5% positivity rate in tests performed at Coulee Medical Center.

Grant County Health District announced the five additional deaths on Jan. 20 on their website.

The deaths, which occurred in January, were all women from Ephrata and Moses Lake, ranging in age from their 40s to their 90s.

Three were not vaccinated and two had an unknown vaccination status. All five had underlying health conditions.

The county now has seen 231 total Covid deaths, with an additional two still pending verification.

GCHD continues to update case counts only on Thursdays, rather than every weekday, despite the rising case count, with a lower case count previously justifying the less frequent updates, according to Public Information Officer Misty Aguilar.

In their Jan. 20 update, GCHD reported 1,275 additional cases since Jan. 13.

The Grand Coulee and Electric City area of the county shows 187 total cases since the pandemic began, up by 7 since Jan. 13.

According to Okanogan County Public Health, as of Jan. 23, Coulee Dam has seen a total of 126 cases, up by six since Jan. 18, with those six cases reported on Jan. 22.

Elmer City is up by eight cases for a total of 53, with seven of those reported on Jan. 22, and one reported on Jan. 21, and Nespelem is up by 12 cases for a total of 161, with those cases reported on Jan. 22.

Coulee Medical Center reports that from Jan. 18-24, out of 157 total tests performed at the Grand Coulee hospital, 40 (25.5%) came back positive for covid.

GCHD included a link to get free Covid test kits with a limit of one order of four kits per household.

That link is https://special.usps.com/testkits 

The Washington State Department of Health shows the state as a whole having 63% of the population fully vaccinated.

This compares to Grant County at 52%, Douglas at 57%, Okanogan at 57%, and Lincoln at 51%.

Spokane County is at 54%, whereas King County is at 74%.