Case rates for COVID-19 in Jefferson County have dipped slightly, according to Jefferson County Public Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry.

The local drop is opposite of what is happening across the country, Berry told Jefferson County commissioners at their weekly pandemic update Monday.

That said, most local COVID cases have been traced to Thanksgiving gatherings.

“In Jefferson County, most of those have actually been children who were either unvaccinated or under vaccinated, or household contacts of positive cases,” Berry explained.

No large-scale outbreaks have been discovered in Jefferson County recently. “Neither of our counties have any long-term care facility outbreaks,” she added.

The vast majority of confirmed cases of COVID-19 have involved the Delta variant, Berry said.

The nationwide increase represents a significant surge.

“Cases are up 43 percent in the country. Hospitalizations are up 23 percent and deaths are actually up 32 percent,” said Berry, who is also the public health officer for Clallam County.

The nationwide surge is being fueled by new cases in the Midwest and Northeast.

“The highest rates of hospitalization right now are in Michigan,” Berry told commissioners. “We are seeing hospitals moving in the direction of crisis standards of care there, unfortunately. We’re also seeing significant hospitalization rises in the Southwest.”

In particular, there has been a notable rise in coronavirus cases in Arizona.

“Washington state has so far  been bucking that trend. We were continuing to see cases decrease until this last week, where we’ve just started to see them come back up again.

“It’s early days,” Berry added. “We don’t know how continuous that trend will be, but if we follow in the direction of the rest of the country, we anticipate seeing a surge through the holiday season.”

Jefferson County has reported 1,358 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 20 deaths.

The current case rate is 165 cases per 100,000 of population, which represents a decline from last week, Berry said.

Two Jefferson County residents remain hospitalized due to the disease, but they are not being treated by Jefferson Healthcare. Since the start of the pandemic, 80 residents have been hospitalized due to COVID-19.

The case rate in Clallam County is now 292 cases per 100,000 of population, and seven Clallam residents are currently hospitalized. A total of 243 Clallam residents have been hospitalized due to the coronavirus during the pandemic, and 77 people have died.

Berry again stressed the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19. People who are not vaccinated have a 14 times greater risk of death from COVID than those who have been fully vaccinated.

“We are reminding everyone about the importance of getting boosted, especially if you’re in that elder population,” Berry told commissioners.

With the new Omicron variant, health officials are also stressing the importance of people who have been vaccinated getting booster shots.