The crest of the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has yet to be felt in Washington state, Jefferson County Public Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke said Monday.
Locke, in his weekly coronavirus …
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The crest of the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has yet to be felt in Washington state, Jefferson County Public Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke said Monday.
Locke, in his weekly coronavirus update to the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners, said COVID-19 case rates had dropped 30 percent nationally, and hospitalization rates were falling, as well.
“Unfortunately, we’re not seeing those kind of drops yet in Washington state,” Locke said.
“We think they are coming, but we are not there,” he said.
Earlier this week, Washington had the 10th highest coronavirus infection rate in the country.
Locke said he expected the COVID case rate to crest by the middle of May, or later in the month.
Earlier this week, the cumulative total of COVID-19 cases in Jefferson County rose to 405 Monday — an increase of three cases since Friday.
Two males and one female tested positive for COVID, and two of the cases were discovered in Port Townsend, with the other in the mid-county area.
According to Jefferson County Public Health, two of the infections were found in residents under the age of 20, and the third case was discovered in a resident in their 70s.
County health officials said test results for another 47 residents were pending May 10, and nine people were in isolation due to potential coronavirus exposure.
Jefferson County has the second lowest level of COVID-19 activity in Washington, Locke said.
JeffCo is second only to Wahkiakum County in the southwest corner of the state.
The COVID-19 case rate in Jefferson has held stable for the past two weeks, Locke told county commissioners Monday.
There have been 20 cases over the last two weeks, he said.
At least three of the cases involved young children. Locke said the infections came from people within the same household who had gotten COVID-19.
Health officials expect future cases to follow a similar trend of same household infections.
“We think that’s going to be the shape of things to come,” Locke said.
Nationwide, the number of vaccinations done on a daily basis is starting to slow.
Locke said the country hit a peak of vaccinations in mid-April, with about 3.5 million per day.
That’s since slowed to about 2 million a day, he said.
“Which is still a very significant number, but not what we would like,” he said.
About a third of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, he added, with 46 percent of the population having at least the first dose of a COVID vaccine.
Washington currently ranks 17th nationally in the level of vaccinations.
In Jefferson County, 55 percent of the population has had a first dose, and 32.5 are fully vaccinated, Locke said.
Jefferson County was the first county in the state to pass the 50 percent vaccinated mark, he added.
“If you look at the eligible population, 16 and older, it’s 68.2 percent of people over the age of 16 who have had their first dose, and 57.2 percent are fully vaccinated,” Locke said.
“Those are really impressive numbers.”
