PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Multiple long-term care facilities and at least one hospital are listed on the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department’s website with COVID-19 outbreaks in the past 28 days.
On Wednesday, MultiCare’s Tacoma General was added to the list of health care sites with outbreaks, joining the health system’s Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, which first reported its outbreak in December.
Tacoma General is listed with 23 cases associated with an outbreak as of Jan. 6.
In a statement in response to questions from The News Tribune, MultiCare gave the following timeline for the outbreak:
“In late December, two patients in the same unit at Tacoma General tested positive for COVID-19 after initially testing negative upon admission. Our hospital staff and Infection Prevention department immediately followed our COVID-19 protocols, which included isolating the positive patients to prevent further spread.”
The health system said any patient potentially affected has been notified and tested and said on Friday wider testing had started among employees.
“Today, we decided to cast a wider net for employee testing at Tacoma General as we seek to identify any additional employee positive cases — whether they be related to the initial positive patients or not.
It added, “Hospital leaders are in the process of notifying this group of Tacoma General employees and testing will begin on Monday.”
On Dec. 18, Tacoma General began vaccinating front-line workers with some of the county’s first supplies of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
The health department’s care facility listings showed more than 20 sites with cases associated with outbreaks in the past 28 days. One person could work at multiple facilities and be counted as a case at each facility.
The first number is total cumulative cases, the second number reflects cases associated with the facility occurring in the past 28 days:
▪ Avamere Heritage Rehabilitation, Tacoma: 99, 96
▪ Avamere Pacific Ridge, Tacoma: 194, 118
▪ Avamere Puget Sound Transitional Care, Tacoma: 42, 4
▪ Brookdale Puyallup South, Puyallup: 28, 14
▪ Cascade Park Gardens, Tacoma: 88, 26
▪ Franke Tobey Jones, Tacoma: 19, 19
▪ Heartwood, Tacoma: 97, 10
▪ Heron’s Key/Penrose Harbor, Gig Harbor: 40, 39
▪ Julia Estates, South Hill: 12, 12
▪ Linden Grove Nursing Home, Puyallup: 110, 31
▪ Manor Care, Tacoma: 82, 19
▪ Memory Haven, Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 11, 11
▪ Orchard Park, Tacoma: 152, 127
▪ Park Rose, Tacoma: 56, 53
▪ People’s Retirement Community, Tacoma: 48, 28
▪ Pioneer Place Memory Haven, Tacoma: 27, 7
▪ Puyallup Nursing and Rehabilitation: 15, 13
▪ Rainier School, Tacoma: 69, 31
▪ Spring Ridge, Tacoma: 18, 17
▪ Tacoma Lutheran Retirement Community, 155, 139
▪ The Oaks, Lakewood: 28, 26
▪ The Rivers At Puyallup: 13, 11
▪ The Village Retirements, Tacoma: 14, 14
▪ Weatherly Inn, Tacoma: 101, 96
The list also includes Western State Hospital in Lakewood with 148 cumulative cases, and 90 associated with the facility occurring in the past 28 days.
Cox Media Group
