By Pepper Fisher
CLALLAM & JEFFERSON COUNTIES – As predicted by local Health Officers, the first 15 cases of the Delta Variant of Covid-19 were confirmed in Clallam County over the weekend.
Dr. Allison Berry says all but one of the Delta cases are related to one church outbreak, with a total of 35 new cases of Covid since Friday.
She says cases and hospitalizations are rising dramatically in Clallam and Jefferson Counties, driven largely by the rise of variant infections and unvaccinated gathering indoors without masks.
As a result, Drs. Berry and Tom Locke joined their fellow health officers from King, Pierce, Snohomish, Kitsap, San Juan, and Grays Harbor counties in a signed statement released Monday.
Together, they’re recommending all residents wear masks in indoor public settings where the vaccination status of those around you is unknown. Dr. Berry says the new guidance comes while we’re seeing a rapid rise in case numbers and in variant infections.
“So, those two things together are really causing us to change our recommendations on masking.”
The concern, she says, is that we know most public businesses have now dropped mask mandates, and so the vaccinated are mixing with the unvaccinated, contributing to the increase in variants.
“In most public spaces, you don’t know the vaccine status of the person next to you. And in those spaces, we do recommend going ahead and putting a mask on. That’s only for indoor places, not for outdoor places.”
The health officers say it’s especially important in places like grocery or retail stores, churches, and theaters.
“So we really only have about three tools to control this pandemic. We have vaccines, and we’ve been doing a really good job, but not good enough. We haven’t gotten enough people vaccinated to rely on vaccines alone. We’ve got masks, which are easy and simple, and we’ve used them before with great effect. And then we’ve got lockdowns. And I think one of the biggest things is, none of us want to do lockdowns again. So, we have to lean on the other tools that we have.”
Dr. Berry ended by saying the vaccine are working extremely well, but the problem now is, not enough people are getting it.
With the news today that 15 cases of the Delta Variant have been confirmed in Clallam County, the first such cases on the Olympic Peninsula, she thinks things will get worse before they better.