A Bainbridge Island resident is the first person in Kitsap County suspected of having 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19), but details on the case remain elusive.
The Kitsap Public Health District announced last Sunday that a Bainbridge resident in their 60s had a “presumptive positive” test result from the University of Washington.
The test results will continue to be a “presumptive positive” until they can be confirmed by the state public health laboratory.
The Bainbridge resident is in isolation and receiving care, Kitsap health officials said Sunday.
Other details on the patient have not been released; officials have said the person’s privacy is a factor and noted that the Kitsap Public Health District will not release additional details about the person “unless it is imperative to protect public health.”
Kitsap health officials also announced Sunday that the district had notified “a small group of individuals” who were identified as having had close contact with the Bainbridge case, and that those individuals had been asked to stay home.
The Kitsap Public Health District would not say how many people were in the “small group” when asked Monday by the Review about the size of that group.
Officials would also not say if any people in the “small group” were being tested for COVID-19.
“We will not be releasing information about specific community members being tested, just numbers for the county,” said Tad Sooter, public information officer for the Kitsap health district.
COVID-19 tests must be ordered by a health care provider, and the Bainbridge resident received a test for COVID-19 at the University of Washington.
The Kitsap Public Health District was not involved in that test, as it is only involved in helping to facilitate testing at the state public health lab in Shoreline.
Kitsap health officials said that when a local health care provider requests COVID-19 testing for a patient, the Kitsap district works with the state Department of Health to determine if the case meets the criteria for testing, and the Department of Health gives final approval for testing.
Officials note that the criteria for testing is guided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and determined by the state Department of Health.
And because testing capacity is limited, not everyone who has COVID-19 symptoms will be tested, officials said.
A total of 162 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Washington state through Monday, March 9, and 21 deaths in Washington have been linked to coronavirus.
More than half of those 162 cases — 55 percent — involve people 60 years or older.
Approximately 55 percent of the cases were women with COVID-19, and 42 percent were men, according to the Washington State Department of Health.
