The spike in confirmed COVID-19 cases in Jefferson County continued over the weekend as 10 new cases were reported Monday by county health officials.

A total of 86 new COVID infections have been found in the past two weeks, and all told, 99 new cases have been reported since Friday, Aug. 6.

“Case numbers continue to rise nationally, statewide and in Jefferson County,” Dr. Allison Berry, Jefferson County Public Health Officer, told county commissioners during their weekly pandemic update Monday.

Berry said there has been a 39 percent increase in COVID-19 cases nationwide, along with a 43 percent increase in hospitalizations.

The death rate from the disease has increased by 99 percent.

“A thousand people are dying every day of COVID. We are back to that level of severity,” she said.

In Washington, the number of coronavirus cases has jumped by 40 percent.

That’s approximately 3,000 people diagnosed for COVID-19 every day, Berry told commissioners.

Hospitalizations in Washington state have also increased by 54 percent.

In Jefferson County, the increase in COVID cases has set a new high.

The two-week COVID-19 case rate once again rose to the highest it’s been since the start of the pandemic; 263.32 cases per 100,000 of population as of Monday.

That’s up from 235.11 cases per 100,000 of population last week.

Berry encouraged people who have not yet been vaccinated to get jabbed, and noted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s full approval Monday of the Pfizer vaccine. 

“We are very excited about that. Now’s a great time to go out and get that vaccine,” she said.

Most of the new COVID-19 cases reported over the weekend, eight in all, were found in the mid-county area. A single case was confirmed in Port Townsend, and another in the south county area.

The new cases were evenly split between male and female residents.

One case involved a resident under the age of 20; four cases were people in their 30s; two cases were residents in their 50s; two cases were people in their 60s; and the remaining case involved a resident in their 70s.

According to Jefferson County Public Health, the vast majority of COVID-19 infections have been found in unvaccinated residents.

A total of 40 residents were still in isolation Monday due to potential COVID-19 contact.

According to Jefferson County Public Health, the results of 64 tests were still pending Aug. 23.

There have been 28,720 tests for COVID-19 in Jefferson County since the start of the pandemic, and 28,016 have resulted in negative results.

In Jefferson County, 511 people have recovered from COVID-19 and 42 people have been hospitalized for the disease. (People are considered “recovered” at 28 days from the onset of symptoms if they are alive and not hospitalized, according to the state Department of Health.)

Four deaths of Jefferson County residents have been linked to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.