As an additional case of the new coronavirus was confirmed this weekend on the North Olympic Peninsula, health officers in Clallam and Jefferson counties pointed to the success of social distancing measures and suggested the governor could lift restrictions in a phased process as early as next month.
Clallam County Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry Unthank said Monday the state’s physical distancing rules are having an effect of slowing the spread of COVID-19, but the peak number of cases is still expected to hit later this month and into early May.
Dr. Tom Locke, the Jefferson County health officer, said King and Snohomish counties peaked last week, with a slight decrease in confirmed cases and hospitalizations over the weekend, and the predicted peak — which was in the middle of April — may have occurred 10 days earlier.
“The predicted peak for rural Washington was at the end of [April],” he said. “So, it may be that our predicted peak is earlier as well, as early as, say, the end of this next week.
“Social distancing and [community mitigation] measures, these things actually work,” he said. “They’re even more effective than we thought they would be, so it’s really put the brakes on transmission.”
Unthank, during her Monday briefing, said it’s prudent to “wait a little while” after that peak to lift restrictions.
“We highly suspect the governor’s order is going to get extended again,” Unthank said of the current restrictions until May 4. “We anticipate it will probably be a little later in May.
“It’s not going to be that May 4 comes around and everything goes back to normal,” she said. “There will be a day when we stop doing this, but it won’t be all at once.”
The first people released from the order may be people who work primarily outdoors who can easily maintain a 6-foot distance from others, Unthank said. The next group may be people who can work in other workplaces where a 6-foot distance can be maintained.
Unthank said using such a phased release of restrictions could end up with small increases in new cases. But, if that happens, the county will have to be aggressive in responding.
“It will be our job as a public health department to locate those cases, test, isolate and quarantine,” she said.
When things do start to re-open, Locke expects there will be increased screening measures in place, and there will be more robust testing opportunities.
The success of social distancing may come with its own concerns, Locke said.
“It has not been as bad as our worst fears in Washington state,” he said. “That can give people a false sense of security, that the threat has been overblown, and the argument I would use to convince them that the threat is not overblown is look around the country and around the world.
“There are places much more severely and tragically impacted. We were just fortunate that we did what we needed to do at the right time, and people enthusiastically did it.”
Unthank said one additional positive test was reported over the weekend, making it 12 total cases in Clallam County. The latest case is a man in his 60s who was exposed to a visitor with the virus from outside of the county.
Jefferson County has a total of 28 positive cases, Locke told the Board of Jefferson County Commissioners during his weekly briefing Monday.
The county has tested a total of 685 patients with 651 negative results and six pending, for a 4.1 percent positive case rate, according to Jefferson Public Health.
“This is the first weekend in a month that we didn’t have to call the public health nurses in and do case investigations,” Locke said. “They actually got the weekend off. Which was wonderful.”
Clallam County has submitted 694 total tests with the 12 positive results and 660 negative. There are 22 pending, and six patients have recovered. None of the positives are first responders or health care workers, according to Clallam County Emergency Management.
Clallam Transit reduces service
Due to a drop in ridership and lack of staffing, Clallam Transit is reducing the number of some of its runs for the next 30 days.
The agency will be going to a Saturday schedule seven days a week beginning on Thursday, although normal weekday runs will be maintained on two busy routes — Route 30 between Sequim and Port Angeles and Route 26 to the westside and the Lower Elwha Tribal Center. Those routes will have buses running every 30 minutes over much of the day.
General Manager Kevin Gallacci said a number of bus operators are out on leave due to COVID-19, and ridership is down about 50 percent. Those reductions will stay in place over at least the next 30 days.
Gallacci said any changes will be posted on the Clallam Transit website and on Clallam Transit’s Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Jefferson Transit already cut some its runs March 30. Jefferson Transit Fixed Route and Dial-A-Ride will operate service Monday through Friday and are not operating services on Saturdays.
All routes and services including Dial-A-Ride are currently fare-free.
