By: Pepper Fisher
CLALLAM COUNTY – A spike of 7 new cases of Covid-19 in Clallam County since Friday continues be to be driven by people attending gatherings.
Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry Unthank tell us these latest cases will require a large amount of contact tracing and testing because of the gatherings involved. The new cases range in age from under 10 to someone in their 60s, and all were acquired locally.
Unthank stressed that, unlike much of the state, Clallam County has still managed to keep case numbers low, and the rate of infection here has dropped from its peak at 35 per 100,000 down to 26 as of Friday. But she cautioned against letting our guard down.
“We are turning it around and we have the ability to do that because we have relatively few cases and we have a lot of people onboard. And so I am just really encouraging all members of our community to take this seriously. Avoid those gatherings, keep that safe physical distance and where a mask. If we do that we really can move this forward. I want to stress that we have a shot at reopening businesses even more than we have. We have a shot at reopening schools. All of those things are possible if we keep our numbers down. And so sacrificing a party today can save jobs down the road.”