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Until last week, the seven people who died from COVID-19 in Clallam and Jefferson counties were mostly in their 80s, the age group most at risk of contracting the virus.
That changed with the death, reported Friday, of a Clallam County man in his 50s.
He contracted the virus while traveling out of state before dying at his home, Clallam County health officer Dr Allison Berry said in his regular Friday briefing.
While Clallam remains the most vaccinated county in the state and “well in” the moderate rate category for viral infections, Berry said he is signaling residents of the Northern Olympic Peninsula should, with vigilance, continue. wearing masks in public and practicing safety protocols.
“It’s a vital reminder that COVID-19 is still alive and well and in circulation, especially outside of our community, although we still have some here as well,” Berry said.
“It is an essential reminder of the severity of this infection, even for the youngest.”
There has been one death per month from the virus reported in the peninsula.
A 90-year-old woman and an 80-year-old woman died in Jefferson County in November and December.
Three women in their 80s, a woman in their 70s and a man in their 80s have died in County Clallam since August.
Like the man whose death was reported on Friday, most had underlying health issues where age was a factor.
Clallam County, which topped the 1,000 case mark in the last week of February, stood at 1,012 on Saturday, Berry said in a text message.
This represents an increase in one case reported since Friday.
Jefferson County remained stable at 336 cases on Saturday, county health official Dr Tom Locke said.
“This is another week of very low COVID-19,” he said.
Thirty percent of people in Clallam County had received at least one injection of a two-dose vaccine and 18 percent were fully vaccinated by Friday, Berry said. The Port Angeles High School vaccination slots were filled for Saturday but available, starting Friday, for Sunday.
Twenty-nine percent of people in Jefferson County had received at least one shot and 16 percent both doses, Locke said on Saturday.
Locke was traveling to Chimacum to prepare for a mass vaccination event for the end of March, when the two counties are expected to enter the larger vaccine distribution phase of Phase 1B2.
Clallam and Jefferson are currently in the 1B1 category.
It allows the vaccination of residents 65 and over and 50 and over who live in multigenerational households or caregivers, older parents or children.
Last week, K-12 educators and staff, and all child care providers, regardless of age, were added to the eligibility pool.
“We have enough vaccines and vaccine locations to vaccinate this entire group in our community over the next two weeks,” Berry said.
Residents of Clallam County register at vaccine.clallam.net/register.
Residents of Jefferson County register at https://jeffersonhealthcare.org/covid-19-vaccine.
Stage 1B2 begins on March 22. It opens the door to immunization for critical infrastructure workers in gathering places such as grocery stores, food banks, transit agencies, correctional facilities, and agriculture and food processing industries.
“There is no longer an age limit in this group,” said Berry. “We will have slots available to you.”
Pregnant women over 16 are eligible for group 1B2 vaccines.
“We know that pregnancies put you at serious risk for COVID-19 infection,” Berry said.
In addition to this group, there are people with disabilities who predispose them to the virus.
“This particularly targets people with intellectual disabilities, for some people who really cannot tolerate a mask, and people, for example, with Down syndrome, who put them at a very high risk of COVID-19.”
When the county reaches stage 1B2, county health workers will conduct direct outreach to select populations, prioritizing inmates and staff at the Clallam Bay Correctional Center, where the Department of Corrections of the State never had a reported COVID-19 case on Friday.
“We’re also going to be doing a relatively large outreach to West End farm workers to make sure they have easy access,” Berry said.
Clallam County will receive 400 doses of the vaccine in one shot from Johnson and Johnson next week, Berry said.
Residents who are less likely to receive a second dose, such as people in unstable housing, will likely be given first.
It won’t be incorporated into mass vaccination efforts, “but it could happen later,” Berry said.
Jefferson County will receive 500 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine which will be made available to anyone who is eligible, Locke said.
Washington state has received 65,000 to 66,000 doses of the J&J vaccine which are scheduled to last until late March or early April, he said.
“Then it will start to appear in large quantities,” predicted Locke, estimating that by the end of June, 100 million doses will have been manufactured.
From the end of May, anyone who wants to get vaccinated will be able to get vaccinated, he predicted.
But no one knows whether enough people will be vaccinated to create herd immunity, Locke said.
“We need 70 to 80 percent of those vaccinated for the pandemic to end.”
Vaccination of those aged 15 and under and the impact of COVID-19 variants remain open questions, he said.
He urged those vaccinated to continue wearing masks as they can still spread the virus and not show symptoms.
He predicted that late fall or summer would be as soon as possible for people to stop wearing masks.
But the emerging variants of COVID-10 “could really complicate the process,” he said, and could add another injection to the vaccination regimen.
“Maybe we will need to develop a booster dose of the vaccine that is specific for the variants,” Locke said.
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Senior Editor Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at [email protected]
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