PORT ANGELES – Local health officials report two new positive test results for COVID-19 in Clallam County.
County Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry Unthank says the latest case is a couple in their 60’s. Health officials are now tracking down people the couple came in contact with. Unthank says they are in self isolation and doing well.
It brings to 14 the number of positive cases in Clallam County. Unthank says that number is actually a good one for the area and the curve has bended significantly.
“Even with those two new cases, our percent positive rate is still less than 2%. So we are still doing really quite well as far as that bending the curve and keeping our total number of cases low.”
The county has tested 765 people and 10 of the 14 positive cases have fully recovered.
Unthank says she is now working on how Clallam County starts relaxing some of the stay-at-home measures. She says first the area needs to shore up ways to protect vulnerable populations.
“One, is making sure that as we start to relax the physical distancing recommendations that our most vulnerable are protected. So that means that our medical staff need access to adequate PPE to do their job, our first responders need that. The other big thing that we need is to shore up our long-term care facilities. We’ve been working with them throughout this process. But, we’re really doing a big push right now to make sure that everyone has adequate PPE. That our long-term care facilities have adequate training and infection control so that they can prevent outbreaks in those facilities.”
Right now, there are no firm timelines for opening things back up. For certain, Unthank says nothing will change locally until at least May 4th when the Governor’s Stay-Home order could expire.