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Coronavirus: 11 new cases in Grant County; rate of positive results climbs

| June 24, 2020 12:00 AM

By EMRY DINMAN

Staff Writer

GRANT COUNTY — Eleven new cases of the coronavirus were reported in Grant County on Tuesday, including four new cases in the Quincy area, three in Moses Lake, two in Ephrata, one in the Mattawa area and one in Royal City, according to Grant County Health District.

This brings the total number of coronavirus cases reported in the county since the pandemic began to 479. Seven people who have been infected with the virus are currently hospitalized, according to the health district.

Since the pandemic began, 143 cases have been reported in Moses Lake, 125 cases have been reported in the Mattawa area, and 119 cases have been reported in the Quincy area, the three hardest hit areas in the county.

Until June 15, the health district had regularly reported the number of tests that have come back negative and therefore the total number of test results that had come back that day. That data had been showing a substantial increase in overall testing in recent weeks; however, some large pools of new testing, including that of presurgical patients, have resulted hundreds of tests being taken with no positive results coming back.

Yet the county’s overall rate of positive tests has climbed significantly despite those large sources of negative test results, ranging from three to four times higher between June 12 and June 19 than in previous weeks, according to the state Department of Health. Those significant increases have driven up the county’s overall rate of positive tests from around 8.5 percent in May to 10.1 percent as of Sunday, and the rate for just June 12 to June 19 stretches into the high teens.