Case rates continue to drop across the North Olympic Peninsula, despite the confirmation of new cases.
“Case rates are presented as the number of cases diagnosed in the last 14 days, adjusted for population,” said Dr. Allison Berry, health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Clallam county’s case rate dropped to 1,601 per 100,000 population Friday from the 1,642 per 100,000 reported on Thursday, despite 96 new cases, bringing the county’s total to 9,924 since the pandemic began.
Jefferson County updated its case rate to 1,068 per 100,000 population on Friday, with 16 new cases, bringing the county’s total to 2,711 since the pandemic began. County officials compute the case rate weekly rather than daily. The case rate reported Jan. 28 was 1,236 per 100,000.
A relatively new metric being tracked on the Peninsula is the average daily cases.
For example, according to the Clallam County Covid website at clallam.net/coronavirus/, an average of 87 cases were reported daily over the last two weeks.
“At our recent peak we were seeing 125 new cases per day,” Berry said.
“As we see the case rate go down, it means we are still seeing cases, but the number reported to us each day is less than the day before,” Berry said.
Jefferson County will begin reporting this metric this week.
Hospitalizations, however, are still increasing.
Seventeen Clallam County residents were hospitalized with COVID as of Friday. Twelve are currently at Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles with four in the intensive care unit (ICU). Five are in ICUs out of the county.
A total of 326 Clallam County residents have been hospitalized with COVID since the pandemic began. Ninety-five residents have died from the virus.
In Jefferson County, four were hospitalized with COVID as of Friday. Three were at Jefferson Healthcare in Port Townsend with two in the ICU. One was in an ICU out of the county.
A total of 105 Jefferson residents have been hospitalized with COVID since the pandemic began. Twenty-three residents have died of the virus.
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Reporter Ken Park can be reached at kpark@ peninsuladailynews.com.
