By: Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – Clallam County has reported 21 new cases of Covid-19 since Saturday for a total of 167, launching us into the state’s High Risk category as of today with 81 cases per 100,000 population in a two-week period. That’s the metric often cited by health officials as a primary consideration for deciding whether a community moves forward or backward in reopening.
County Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry Unthank told us this afternoon the surge over the weekend was driven by a series of parties and also has been traced to a bar in downtown Port Angeles that has since closed down indefinitely as officials work on the massive task of tracing. She says multiple employees and customers have tested positive.
“It’s disappointing and it’s certainly very concerning to see how many residents in our county are continuing to party and gather as if there isn’t a pandemic going on. You know, many of these cases that we were investigating over the weekend had 20-30 people in their social circles and that is far too large. We have to be much more cautious going forward. Otherwise, we are rapidly losing all of the gains that we work so hard to make.”
Two things changed over the weekend. The center of our county’s outbreak shifted from Forks and the west end to Port Angeles, and the ages of those driving the surge has moved from teens to primarily people in their 20s.
The fact that we have now moved into the High Risk category could have an affect on reopening policies if it’s anything more than a 2 or 3 day tick. Unthank last Friday warned that should we enter and stay in the High Risk bracket for a week, that would be a trigger to reconsider school reopening plans.
“No, no formal decisions have been made about schools, but it really calls into question whether or not we can safely reopen the way that we had hoped. I have a conference call scheduled with our local superintendents today and tomorrow to make plans and make some formal decisions about school reopening. So we should have a formal decision later this week.”
The result of the weekend spike in numbers so far has been the voluntary closing of several bars and restaurants based on contact tracing from one downtown establishment. That’s partly because some employees work at more than one shop, but also because customers have a way of floating from place to place.
These businesses, which waited months to reopen, are learning first-hand how quickly this virus can take hold. And the contact tracing has only just begun.