Two new JeffCo COVID-19 cases came from people in quarantine | UPDATE

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Two more cases of COVID-19 were discovered in Jefferson County over the weekend, Public Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke said Monday.

The number of confirmed infections of COVID-19 stood at 59 on Aug. 17 in Jefferson County. That’s an increase of two cases from the 57 reported late last week.

Locke said the two cases involved people who had been in contact with someone who was already infected with the disease. 

The two people in both of the new cases, Locke said, were in self-quarantine when they tested positive.

In his weekly update to the board of county commissioners, Locke said the country has “crested” on the second wave of COVID-19 infections.

Some of the states that experienced significant and intense outbreaks — including Texas and Arizona — are now seeing the numbers of cases on the decline.

The decrease in COVID-19 numbers are to be expected, Locke added, because states rolled back on their reopening plans, with tougher restrictions on bars, restaurants and other places where people gather, as well as increased compliance with other COVID precautions.

The current hotspots in the U.S. are in areas that were previously unaffected.

Locke said those areas are really the “growing edge” of the pandemic.

He also noted the unreliability of some of the national data on the disease, given the reduced testing that is now taking place.

“We want to do more testing, not less,” Locke said.

A decrease in the national death rate, he added, shows that the cresting is real.

“Here in Washington state, we also have peaked from the increase that we were seeing in July,” Locke said, and added that rise now appears to be dropping, but “not as fast as we would like.”

Washington state was seeing a thousand new cases of COVID-19 a day. The state is currently experiencing 500 to 600 new confirmed cases of the virus daily.

COVID-19 data is now being reviewed using the number of new cases over two weeks, based on a population of 100,000.

Jefferson County is at 15.7 per 100,000, Locke said, while the neighboring counties of Kitsap are at 67.4, and Clallam, 55.3, respectively.

“They had a big surge this weekend,” Locke said of Clallam County.

What’s driving the outbreak? Locke said it’s gatherings at food-service establishments and bars, and places where people are  gathering socially to eat and drink. It’s also “speakeasies” and places where people are having parties in the woods, he said.

Locke said people are looking at COVID infections as a personal risk.

That may be true for activities such as downhill skiing and mountain climbing, but not for infectious diseases.

“COVID-19: It’s not like mountain climbing, it’s more like drunk driving.”

An impaired driver, he added, puts other people at risk, not just the driver.

Locke added that people shouldn’t be complacent about the risks of COVID-19.

“This is not a benign disease, even in healthy young adults,” he said. 

People who have been infected, Locke said, can experience heart damage during and after an outbreak.

“We’re seeing it in athletes and young adults,” he said.

Residents of Jefferson County appear to be taking the pandemic seriously.

“I don’t think it’s a statistical fluke,” Locke said, adding that the community deserves to take credit.

People here are wearing masks, and there’s a greater compliance with social distancing.

“Jefferson County takes this really seriously,” he said.