COVID death toll hits 30 in Jefferson County

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The number of residents to die of COVID-19 in Jefferson County increased to 30 as public health officials announced the death of a woman in her 70s to the virus.

The woman was in her 70s and had multiple underlying health issues, officials said. She had completed her COVID vaccination series, but had not received a booster dose.

Noting the last week’s additional COVID-19 death, Public Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry stressed the importance of booster shots during her weekly pandemic update with county commissioners Monday.

“It’s a critical reminder if you are over 65 in particular.  If you have not gotten your booster it’s really really important to get that,” Berry said.

Health officials reported a cumulative total of 4,379 confirmed COVID cases in Jefferson County since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

Officials said Monday there were 174 active COVID cases in isolation, but no county residents are currently hospitalized due to the virus.

“Nationwide, cases have largely plateaued,” Berry said. “That’s led primarily by a decrease in cases that we’re seeing in the Northeast and the Midwest that we’re hit by our prior waves.”

Case numbers continue to go up on the West Coast.

“We are actually continuing to see cases rise overall but that’s driven primarily by California, where we’re really seeing a rapid rise in cases, Berry said.

In Washington state as a whole we are seeing cases plateauing. But similar to the national picture, we are still seeing hospitalizations rise at the statewide level,” she added.

It’s different on the Olympic Peninsula, however.

“The good news is that in Jefferson County and Clallam County we are not seeing that same picture,” Berry said. “We are seeing a plateauing of our cases overall. We have not seen that rise in hospitalizations that has been seen in other parts of the country. And that’s consistent with all four of the top four vaccinated counties in the state.”

Berry said the decoupling of hospitalization and cases is a hopeful sign “that we’re moving into a different phase in our region.”

“Really, the primary driver of that is how vaccinated we are, because, unfortunately, if you are not vaccinated, we are still seeing severe disease. We’re still seeing hospitalization, we’re unfortunately still seeing death.

“But because we’re so well vaccinated, and so well boosted, we’re not seeing that same trend here,” Berry said. “It’s very, very hopeful.”