By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – There have been 4 new Covid deaths in the last 2 weeks in Clallam County, with 16 total. County Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry says that should be concerning to all of us.
“A quarter of all of our deaths in this response have been in the last two weeks and that’s deeply concerning to me. We’re really seeing the pandemic split in two. If you are fully vaccinated, the pandemic is largely ending for you. But for people who are unvaccinated, the pandemic is actually getting worse. These new variant strains are more transmissible and they’re also more dangerous. We’re seeing them cause people who are otherwise young and relatively healthy to get hospitalized and even in some deeply unfortunate cases, die.”
One of the latest deaths was a woman in her 30s who’s case was complicated by asthma, but as the Dr. pointed out, many people have asthma.
She said several variants of the virus are being spread among the unvaccinated here, including the B117, or Alpha variant, responsible for many of the deaths in recent weeks. Also concerning is P-1 or Gamma variant, which she says is significantly more transmissible and more severe if you get it. The Delta variant has not yet been detected here, but she says it probably has arrived.
To illustrate the effectiveness of the vaccines, out of over 1500 cases so far, 25, or less than 5%, have been among people who were fully vaccinated, and Dr. Berry says almost all of those were in one large outbreak at a long-term care facility.
“That was a population that can’t respond as well to the vaccine. If you take out that long-term care facility, we’ve had, I believe only nine cases of vaccine breakthrough. For all of those they had very mild symptoms, if any at all. Most were entirely asymptomatic, other ones, had a minor sore throat and then went on with their lives.”
She says if everyone who got a sore throat from Covid then we wouldn’t worry about it anymore. But that’s not what’s happening with all of these new cases.
“All of these deaths are largely preventable. Unfortunately, all of the people who have died in our community have been unvaccinated. And we know that these vaccines are incredibly effective at preventing death and hospitalization. These don’t have to keep happening. We can as a community decide to get vaccinated, and I really hope those in our community who have not yet gotten vaccinated choose to do so. Because unfortunately, for those who are unvaccinated, things are likely to get worse before they get better.”