The North Olympic Peninsula reported 13 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, with eight new cases in Jefferson County and five in Clallam County.
No new cases were reported Saturday.
That gives Clallam County 924 total cases since the pandemic began in March and 49 active cases. The county has an infection rate of 84 per 100,000 over the past two weeks.
Jefferson County has had 305 positives since March and has 23 active cases. The county lists an infection rate of 72.10 per 100,000 over the past two weeks.
Jefferson County Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke said the latest cases are tending to show up in younger people between the ages of 15 and 39.
“What’s really driving new cases are adolescents and young adults,” he said.
He said it’s understandable since this is an age group that socializes a lot and can be lax about following guidelines such as masking and social distancing.
He said the good news is this younger age group has the least amount of risk from COVID-19, but the bad news is they can still spread the infection to older people and others in higher risk groups even if they don’t have serious symptoms.
Vaccination clinics are full in Sequim and Port Angeles for this coming weekend.
Olympic Medical Center will wrap up this week the inoculation of Tier 1A healthcare workers with first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Clallam County Health and Human Services is managing the registration for the clinics in Port Angeles and Sequim, and eligible residents who are interested in receiving the vaccine can register in advance via http://vaccine.clallam.net/register when appointments are available.
Current eligibility, as outlined by the Washington State Department of Health, can be found at https://www.olympic medical.org/covid-19- vaccine-information/.
Jefferson Healthcare officials are awaiting vaccine shipments. Appointments have been made for second-dose shots beginning Feb. 6.
