Health officials said they continued to make progress in the fight against the new coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases on the North Olympic Peninsula remained at 40.
Jefferson County had 28 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday and Clallam County had 12, officials said.
Jefferson County’s last confirmed case was reported Thursday, representing a five-day lull in new cases.
“We actually have very few tests that are outstanding now,” Jefferson County Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke said Tuesday.
“It’s too early for us to tell for sure, but we like to think it’s good news that the physical distancing and the stay-at-home measures and all of the things that we’re doing as a community and a state level are having an effect.”
“We know it’s bending the curve in the outbreak counties,” Locke added, referring to hard-hit places like King and Snohomish counties.
Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict announced Tuesday he has received permission from the owner of Deer Park Cinema to use the theater parking lot as a possible location for a drive-through COVID-19 testing site.
Undersheriff Ron Cameron said Clallam County is planning to offer drive-through testing when more test kits become available.
Kitsap and Grays Harbor counties have recently opened drive-through testing for COVID-19, Cameron said.
“We’re starting to see those pop up all over,” Cameron said during a daily coronavirus briefing at the Clallam County Courthouse.
Cameron said the parking lot of the theater east of Port Angeles is “absolutely perfect” for drive-up testing because of its design.
The theater itself is temporarily closed.
“They have a natural design that they’ve already developed, an in-and-out going around the building, and they have sufficient parking,” Cameron said.
Cameron gave no timeline for when the Clallam County drive-through test site would be open.
“We’re going to send a small team (to Kitsap County) and see how they’re doing it,” Cameron said.
Jefferson Healthcare has drive-through COVID-19 testing available by appointment only in the waterside parking lot of the hospital in Port Townsend, Locke said.
For information, visit www.jeffersonhealthcare.org.
“I think it’s great that Clallam County’s developing that capability, because the drive-by testing is really the way to go if the only service the person needs is to have the test, if they don’t need to actually be physically examined,” Locke said.
Cameron said the number of patients who had recovered from their COVID-19 infections had risen from six to 10 as of Tuesday.
“We do know there are no reported positives overnight,” Cameron said.
“So we’re still at 12.”
Clallam County health officials reported later Tuesday there were 679 negative tests, 12 positive tests and 42 pending tests.
Meanwhile, Cameron said Clallam County had received needed supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers and first responders Friday, Monday and Tuesday.
“We’re not out of the woods, but we’re starting to receive more and more stuff from the state,” Cameron said.
“Things are starting to move a little bit. I think production is starting to catch up with the need.”
In Jefferson County, health officials were dispatched to grocery stores and other food outlets to promote infection control, Locke said.
“We’ve been going around to all of them, assessing what they’re doing in terms of infection control … and trying to help them do a better job of it,” Locke said.
“We think that’s a significant area where we can improve.”
Health officials in both counties had yet to see a surge of patients with COVID-19.
“We’ve essentially had no hospitalized patients with COVID-19 here at Jefferson Healthcare,” Locke said.
“This was the time of the month that we were expecting to see some surge.”
Locke said the lack of hospitalizations could be a sign that physical distancing and other community mitigation measures are working.
“We have not been able to do enough testing to say with confidence that the in-county disease transmission is really subsiding,” Locke added.
“If we’re able to significantly increase our testing,” Locke said, “that will confirm that we’re kind of through this first wave.”
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
Dr. Tom Locke
