A new confirmed case of COVID-19 was discovered in Jefferson County over the weekend, Public Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke said Monday.
Jefferson County had a total of 70 confirmed cases of …
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A new confirmed case of COVID-19 was discovered in Jefferson County over the weekend, Public Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke said Monday.
Jefferson County had a total of 70 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
Locke said local health officials have been fielding numerous questions from residents about the recent outbreak at St. Michael Medical Center in Bremerton, formerly known as Harrison Hospital.
That outbreak, which started in early August after a staff member tested positive for the disease, has been the largest COVID-19 flare-up at a medical facility in Washington state.
A total of 60 infections have been linked to the
St. Michael outbreak as of Sunday, Aug. 30, Locke said.
More than 2,000 employees of the hospital have since been tested.
“This inevitably has impacts on Jefferson County,” Locke said. “We have a lot of people who get medical care in Kitsap.”
People who have been exposed have been notified, he added, and Locke said 160 members of the hospital’s staff are currently in quarantine.
Jefferson County health officials have “no blanket recommendations” for people who have gone to
St. Michael for medical care.
In an update Monday, St. Michael Medical Center said 137 employees were still in quarantine as they await test results.
The two-week case rate of COVID-19 infections in Jefferson County (per 100,000 in population) has dropped in recent weeks.
That rate has fallen from 38 per 100,000 to 28 per 100,000, Locke told county commissioners during their weekly COVID-19 update Monday.
There have been nine confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the past two weeks in Jefferson County, he said.
The number of those testing negative, he added, is “98 percent plus.”
Recent worries that weekend parties at Tarboo Lake — where there have been reports of large gatherings where people were not social distancing or wearing face masks — would lead to a spike in coronavirus cases have not come to pass.
Those gatherings have not set off a large-scale community outbreak, Locke said.
Four COVID-19 cases in Jefferson County were linked to Tarboo Lake, but Locke said those four people who had gotten COVID-19 had also had contacts beyond events at Tarboo Lake.
