Thurston County COVID-19 Update: Thurston County Letter to the Community

Submitted by Thurston County

Letter to the community: February 4, 2021

Hello Thurston County! The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be dynamic in our county. Our community infection rate has peaked, and today the case rate for COVID-19 in Thurston County is 251.2 cases per 100K in 14 days.In Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery, Thurston County is located in the western region of Grays Harbor, the Pacific Ocean, and Lewis County. Yesterday, Thurston County moved from Phase 1 to Phase 2. This allows you to start some businesses with limited capacity and expand the scale of the social gathering.

To move to a Phase 2 region, you must meet at least three of the following criteria: In other words, the infection rate is reduced by 10% or more (cases / 100k in 14 days), and the infection rate of COVID-19 is reduced by 10% or more. In 14 days, less than 90% of hospitalized, staffed ICU beds per 100,000 population will be filled, and the 7-day positive rate of the COVID-19 test must be less than 10%. The Department of State reports these indicators every Friday to record whether the region has moved to a new stage in Healthy Washington-a roadmap to recovery. The region will move to a new phase next Monday. Regions can be moved back and forth every two weeks, depending on whether they meet the required metrics. I carefully monitor these indicators and work with other health officials in our area.

The COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7, more commonly referred to as the United Kingdom (UK) variant, is located in Washington State. This variant is easier to infect because it increases the ability of the virus to bind to cells and increases the likelihood of infection in close contact. According to UK data, 11% of close contacts continued to develop infections from previous strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. For individuals exposed to the B.1.1.7 variant, 14.7% of close contacts continued to develop the infection. Close contact is defined as an individual who has spent a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more within 6 feet of an individual infected with COVID-19 during the period of infection.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that UK stocks may be the predominant stock of COVID-19 in the US by the end of March. The CDC is also analyzing data to determine if this new strain is at high risk of death or serious illness. More susceptible strains have also been identified in California, Brazil and South Africa. The scientific community is still learning more about these variants.

Our currently available vaccines provide some protection from these strains. The good news is that the technology used to make current safe and effective vaccines can be used to provide protection from new mutations.

There are many unknowns about these new strains, but these variants spread through droplets and aerosols, just as other COVID-19 strains spread. As these new strains and our county move into Phase 2 and allow for increased rallying and activity, it will become even more important to pay attention to precautions and strengthen COVID-19 precautions.is Essential You should continue to wear masks in public, stay at least 6 feet away from non-household members, stay home when sick and instructed by public health, follow breathing etiquette, and use hand hygiene. The virus can only mutate if the infection is widespread, so the best way to prevent the mutation is to continue these precautions and pay attention to the prevention of the infection.

People with no internet access have been asked many questions about how to book a COVID-19 vaccine. If a resident of Thurston County does not have access to the internet (email), the resident will be able to book a vaccine by calling the Washington State Health Department’s vaccine telephone line 888-856-5816, with a Spanish option. It will be available. ..

If you cannot reach DOH via the vaccine line, you can call Thurston County Public Health and Social Services (PHSS) (360-867-2610) for assistance. Due to the high volume of calls, DOH and PHSS are occurring. If you do not receive immediate support, please wait for a while. If you have access to email, internet, or mobile services, use these methods to schedule your booking before calling DOH or PHSS.

We wish you all the best of luck.

Dimyana Abdelmalek, MD, MPH Health Officer, Thurston County