As of last week, all seven people who died from Covid-19 in Clalem and Jefferson counties were mostly in their 80s, the age group most at risk for the virus infection.
Reported on Friday, that changed with the death of a Klum County man in his 50s.
Clemson County Health Officer Dr. Alison Berry said in her regular Friday briefing that she contracted the virus while traveling out of state before dying at her home.
Clelam is the most vaccinated county in the state and is “well” in the mid-range range for viral infections, Berry said, adding that his passing indications are that residents of the North Olympic Peninsula should consciously continue to wear masks in public and study safety protocols.
“It’s an important reminder that COVID-19 is still very much alive and well, and especially circulating outside of our community, however, we also have some here,” Barry said.
“This is an important reminder of how serious the infection can be even for young children.”
The virus reported on the peninsula has caused one death in a month.
A woman in her 90s and a woman in her 80s died in Jefferson County in November and December.
Three women died in the 1980s, one woman died in the 1980s and one died in the 1980s in Clam County.
Like the man whose death was reported on Friday, most health condition or age was a factor.
Berry said in a text message that Cl County Lum County, which reported 1,000 cases in the last week of February, had 1,012.
That is an increase in cases reported in 0ne since Friday.
As of Saturday, 336 cases had remained stable in Jefferson County, according to the county health officer. Said Tom Locke.
“This is the second week of a very low COVID-19,” he said.
Berry said percent of Claylam County people received at least one shot of the two-dose vaccine and 18 percent were fully vaccinated by Friday. Vaccination slots at Port Angeles High School were filled for Saturday but not until Friday, for Sunday.
Twenty percent of Jefferson County residents received at least one shot and 16 percent both doses, Locke said Saturday.
While both counties are expected to move into the Broader-Vaccine-Distribution Phase 1B2 phase, Lok was driving to Chimakum in preparation for a mass vaccination event in late March.
Clelam and Jefferson are in the 1B1 category right now.
It allows vaccinations for residents aged 65 and over and 50 and older who live in high-rise homes or care for elderly relatives or children.
Added to last week’s eligibility pool is teachers and staff from pre-kindergarten-to-grade-12 and all child care providers regardless of age.
“We have enough vaccines and vaccine slots to vaccinate this whole group in the next two weeks in our community,” Barry said.
Residents of Clelam County get vaccinated.
Jefferson County residents are registered at https://jeffersonhealthcare.org/covid-19-vaccine.
Phase 1B2 begins March 22. It opens the door to vaccinations for key infrastructure workers in aggregate settings such as grocery stores, food banks, transportation agencies, improvement facilities and agro and food-processing industries.
“There’s no age cut no f in that group anymore. We have slots available for you,” Barry said.
Pregnant women over the age of 16 are eligible for the 1B2 group vaccine.
“We know that pregnancy puts you at serious risk for covid-19 infections,” Berry said.
There are also people with a disability in that group who lead them to the virus.
“It especially targets people with developmental disabilities, some futures who can’t really bear the mask, and people, for example, with Down syndrome, which puts them really at greater risk for Covid-19.”
When County 1B2 reaches the stage, county health workers will make direct contact with certain populations, giving priority to inmates and staff at the Clelam Bay Correctional Center, where the state’s correctional department, as of Friday, has never reported Covid-19.
“To make sure we can reach especially large quantities for farm laborers on the West End,” Barry said.
Berry said Clelam County will receive one shot Johnson and 400 doses of Johnson’s vaccine next week.
It will be administered first as people in unstable housing conditions are less likely to have a second dose.
“It won’t be involved in large-scale vaccination efforts, but it could happen down the road,” Bessie said.
Jefferson County will receive 500 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine that will be made available to anyone who qualifies, Locke said.
He said Washington and Washington State have received 65,000-66,000 doses of the Jammu and Kashmir vaccine which should run until the end of March or the beginning of April.
“Then it will start to appear in large quantities,” Locke predicted, by the end of June, 100 million doses would be produced.
As early as the end of May, everyone who wants to get vaccinated will be able to get the vaccine, he predicted.
But no one knows if enough people will be vaccinated to make livestock immune.
“We need to vaccinate 70 to 80 percent of the people to end the epidemic.”
It remains open questions of the effect of vaccinations and COVID-19 variants aged 15 and over, he said.
He urged vaccinated people to continue wearing masks as they can still spread the virus and show no symptoms.
He predicted that in late fall or early summer people would be able to stop wearing masks.
But V-filled COVID-10 variants “can really complicate the process,” he said, and another shot could be added to the vaccination system.
“Maybe we need to develop a specific vaccine booster dose for the variants,” Locke said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb, can be reached at 360-452-2345, Extra. 55650, or at [email protected]
