Jefferson County commissioner gets COVID

Brotherton reports ‘mild symptoms’

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Jefferson County Commissioner Greg Brotherton has become a statistic.

Brotherton announced during the board of county commissioners Monday that he had gotten “a mild case” of COVID-19 over the holiday break.

Commissioners did not meet last week. Most meetings for commissioners wrapped up
Dec. 22 and the courthouse was closed for the holidays Dec. 24.

“It almost feels like a relief to have had it,” Brotherton said during the Monday board meeting, which was held virtually.

He said getting the coronavirus brought back memories of getting chicken pox in the fourth grade at the time of his birthday party, which he recalled only one other friend attending, who had also gotten chicken pox.

“It reminds me of that; I’m not sure why,” Brotherton told his fellow commissioners.

He said his symptoms stopped after five days, and added that his daughter had tested negative.

“I was not tempted at all ... to go out to the barn and get ivermectin,” Brotherton joked.

Ivermectin is a drug used to treat parasitic roundworm infections in animals; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned people with COVID against self-medicating with the drug, which has not been approved or authorized by the FDA as a treatment against COVID-19 for humans or animals.

County Commissioner Kate Dean also noted a COVID-19 infection in her home during the holidays, but said only her son tested positive. 

Four teens had come over for dinner, she said, and three of them subsequently tested positive.

“My family did get off very lucky,” Dean said.

Jefferson County public health officials reported 1,589 confirmed cases of COVID on Monday, an increase of 120 cases over the span of a week.

Three more residents have been hospitalized from COVID since Dec. 27, with one patient still in the hospital.

Health officials reported 124 cases were still in isolation Monday.

No new deaths from COVID were reported Monday, said Public Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry.

The number of new COVID-19 cases are on the rise everywhere, Berry said.

“Unfortunately, we are seeing a significant spike in COVID-19 in the nation, in the state, and in our region, as well,” she said.

Nationally, there has been a “dramatic rise” in cases, Berry said, with a three-fold increase in the daily case rate over the past two weeks.

She also reported a significant increase in the number of coronavirus hospitalizations in Clallam County.

The spiking case rate is attributed to the easily spread Omicron variant of COVID.

“It is a little bit less severe than the Delta variant, but it is not as mild as many people are making it out to be,” Berry added.

Omicron is more severe than the original COVID virus, she said, adding: “It is not the cold; it is not the flu.”

Berry again stressed the importance of getting vaccinated for COVID-19, and for those who have already been vaccinated, to get a booster shot.

The vaccines are holding up well at preventing hospitalization or death from those who get the Omicron variant, she said.

Jefferson County health officials also said this week that nurses and administrators were working “at capacity” due to the pandemic, and as a result, non-urgent messages to Jefferson County Public Health may not receive a reply from staff members.

Residents who need to report a positive home test result can call 360-385-9400.

Free home test kits are available to people who are symptomatic or have been in close contact with an infectious person; kits can be picked up while supplies last at the Jefferson County Public Health office at 615 Sheridan St., in the QFC shopping plaza in Port Townsend.

Information on COVID testing, isolation and quarantine, and vaccinations is available at Jefferson County Public Health’s COVID-19 webpage at jefferson
countypublichealth.org/1429/COVID-19.

Health officials also said Monday that children ages 5 through 17 can get vaccinated at the upcoming clinic at the Quilcene K12 School, planned for Saturday, Jan. 15. The clinic is 10 a.m. to noon.

Booster doses for children ages 12 through 15 will also be offered, pending a recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Boosters are already recommended for teens who are 16 through 17.