Peninsula stays clear of new COVID-19 cases

Health officials working with schools

County health officials continued their work with school districts and testing outreach on Tuesday, reporting no new cases of COVID-19.

Both Clallam and Jefferson counties remain in the state’s low-risk category with case rates of 17 new cases per 100,000 population for the past two weeks in Clallam and 3.13 cases per 100,000 in Jefferson for the same time period, county health officers said.

Both Clallam County Health Officer Dr. Allison Unthank and Jefferson County Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke are working with the local school districts.

Clallam County districts are preparing to possibly begin some form of in-person schooling beginning Oct. 5. Most Jefferson County districts already are using hybrid models of in-person and online learning.

“As issues come up, we deal with them, sort of on a day-by-day basis,” Locke said. “As the first school system in the region to be doing in-person education, it’s really challenged us to figure out a lot of this implementation stuff on our own.

“We’ll be happy to share what we’ve learned with Kitsap and Clallam County and anyone else who is interested.”

Unthank and Clallam County Public Health are continuing to work on bringing COVID-19 testing to underserved neighborhoods in the West End, and Unthank said residents have been very receptive to the outreach.

“A lot of what we’re doing is going to very remote parts of the West End and actually going door-to-door, offering people testing if we know that there have been positive cases in that area, and people by and large have been very open to it,” Unthank said.

“When we do these outreach events, people are happy to get tested and find out their status,” she continued. “We also hand out masks to a lot of people during that, and people are happy to take them.

“We haven’t run into a lot of pushback, luckily, when we head out there.”

Fall is officially here, and with it, the colder weather will start forcing people to gather inside. Both Locke and Unthank are urging people to practice social distancing and wear face masks while inside with people outside their households.

“The biggest thing you can do is limit the amount of people you see in a week, not just an individual interaction,” Unthank said. “Try to keep it less than five and then remember that, whenever you go indoors, you should have a mask on.”

Locke said: “The more you move indoors, the more important it is for people to limit their exposures to their household or sometimes very carefully chosen group of family or friends.

“Some people choose to have multiple social bubbles that they interact with, but the risks go up. The way you mitigate that, the way you try to counter-balance the increased risk, is with masking and distancing and really limiting the numbers,” Locke continued.

“The bottom line is that it’s just not possible to safely do large- or even medium-sized gatherings indoors the way it is outdoors.”

Clallam County has had 236 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since March, with eight active cases and one death, according to Clallam County Public Health data.

Jefferson County has had 71 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since March, with one active case and no deaths, according to Jefferson County Public Health data.

________

Jefferson County Reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached by email at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com or by phone at 360-385-2335, ext. 5.

More in News

Mike O’Brien of Port Angeles watches as his dog, Nara, left, catches a flying disc and his other dog, Copper, waits for his turn to fetch a ball on Thursday at Erickson Playfield in Port Angeles. O’Brien said catch and fetch are favorite activities for his canine companions. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Got it!

Mike O’Brien of Port Angeles watches as his dog, Nara, left, catches… Continue reading

40-week business program under way

Advisor training part of Recompete program

Port of Port Townsend may ask voters if they should increase term lengths

Commissioners could serve six years if ballot measure is approved

Coast Guard cutter changes its command

Potter takes over ship based in Port Angeles in San Diego ceremony

Maintenance workers, from left, Brian Phillips, Jeff Clark and Noah Mohmand, suspend a banner outside the Port Angeles Public Library to gather interest in the library system’s Summer Reading Program, which runs from Friday through Aug. 23. The program offers free books and prizes for avid readers at the system’s branches in Port Angeles, Sequim, Forks and Clallam Bay. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Summer reading

Maintenance workers, from left, Brian Phillips, Jeff Clark and Noah Mohmand, suspend… Continue reading

Heritage projects awarded funding

Almost $2 million for Jefferson programs

Public comment period opens for cleanup at former Rayonier Mill site

Open house scheduled next month at Field Hall

History center declines Port Angeles’ offer for property

Letter cites inability to move inventory items

Cost-sharing pact approved for western Port Angeles Harbor cleanup

Potentially liable parties each to pay one-sixth of project

Sunrise Meats issues recall for smoked salmon

Sunrise Meats, Inc. of Port Angeles is recalling some… Continue reading

Candidate for Port of Port Angeles ends campaign

Nate Adkisson has announced he is ending his campaign… Continue reading

Port Townsend senior living center has COVID-19 outbreak

Twenty residents at Port Townsend Senior Living have tested… Continue reading