Jefferson County has reported two COVID-19 positives while Clallam County did not have any additional cases Sunday.
Meanwhile, Jefferson County Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke said the second round of Pfizer vaccine for Jefferson Healthcare workers in the 1A classification may begin as early as Jan. 5.
The Pfizer vaccine was shipped in a standard quantity of 975 doses for each county.
Locke said that, because Jefferson County is a fairly small county, it may end up with an excess of doses and would be willing to share with both Clallam and Kitsap counties if they need extra doses for health care workers.
“We’re really getting through our 1A list,” Locke said. “If they need help, we can give them our excess vaccine.”
Long-term care facilities
Locke also said a federal program was supposed to help distribute COVID-19 vaccines to nursing home residents, but it has been slow getting started. The state is moving in to help boost the effort, he said.
“We’re hoping for a big push for the long-term care facilities,” Locke said.
He added that an interesting side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the flu and other seasonal colds have been nearly non-existent in the area, largely because people are not congregating indoors due to closures.
“We have zero cases of flu … and we’re looking for it,” Locke said.
Locke will not be giving a COVID-19 update to the Board of Jefferson County Commissioners on Monday. The board will not meet due to the holidays.
Jefferson County’s two new cases included one from Christmas Day reported Sunday and a separate case reported Sunday, giving the county 214 total positives since March. There are 14 active cases in Jefferson County and an infection rate of 59.56 per 100,000 population for the past two weeks, putting it in the state’s moderate-risk category. The test positivity rate is 1.4 percent.
Clallam County has 719 total positive of COVID-19 cases since March. There are 72 active cases in the county and zero people hospitalized. The infection rate is 132 per 100,000 during the past two weeks, in the state’s high-risk category, but down from a rate of more than 200 per 100,000 in November.
That number will be recalculated today, said Clallam County Health Officer Dr. Allison Unthank.
The test positivity rate in Clallam County has dropped to 3.9 percent after it had been running above 4 percent through much of the autumn.
Locke said a positive in Jefferson County on Saturday was a Clallam County resident, so it was reported as a new Clallam County case.
He added the new cases are the result of out-of-county travel and household contacts near previously known positives.
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Sports editor Pierre LaBossiere can be reached by email at plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.
