PORT ANGELES – A surge in Covid-19 cases has pushed Clallam County back into the high category.
The county tallied 21 additional COVID-19 positive test results over the weekend.
The county also announced another death, bringing the number to 17 since the pandemic began last year. There are currently three people hospitalized.
County Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry says the latest death was a man in his 70s who had diabetes. She says he did get vaccinated but it was too late and was infected about 5 days after his first dose. That was before his vaccine could be effective.
As for the increase in numbers, Dr. Berry says they are not related to any single outbreak, but are due to increased variant activity and to large numbers of unvaccinated people gathering indoors not wearing masks. She is expecting the surge to continue and likely get worse in the coming weeks.
Dr. Berry also reported another outbreak at an unidentified church, with four cases reported so far and she expects many more.
The county is now at 88 cases per 100-thousand population over the past two weeks. It was at 71 on Friday. That ended 22 days of the county being in the moderate case-rate category.
Dr. Berry continues to urge people to get vaccinated and if you’re not, wear a mask and avoid indoor gatherings especially with other unvaccinated people.