Covid-19 update

As of Tuesday, Wahkiakum County’s covid-19 count remained at 159, with one case considered to be active.

Vaccination numbers continue to increase slowly in the county, with 13 more doses of vaccine delivered in the last week, according to the Washington Department of Health, for a total of 3,509.

According to a report issued by Wahkiakum Health and Human Services Director Chris Bischoff on Monday, the US has seen a 140 percent increase in new cases over the last 14 days. For more information: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesper100klast7days.

Bischoff said that the vast majority of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths were among the unvaccinated, and that cases among younger demographics were surging.

In some states, most cases are one of the variants. According to Bischoff, six of the cases in Wahkiakum County in the last six months were the Alpha variant, and two were the Gamma variant.

“We don’t know which cases these were or when they happened,” Bischoff said.

The Centers for Disease Control is now using Greek letters to identify variants. The Alpha variant was once referred to as B.1.1.7 and was first seen in the United Kingdom, and the Gamma variant was “initially identified in travelers from Brazil, who were tested during a routine screen at an airport in Japan, in early February,” according to the CDC. For more information: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant.html.

“None of the variants are making the vaccines ineffective,” Bischoff said, “however a couple of the variants do reduce the effectiveness. Several of the variants are making some of the treatments ineffective. This means that for people who get a serious case of covid-19, treatment options are more limited.”

While there is no current indication that Washington state will begin mandating masks again, Bischoff said that masks mandates were being implemented again in other places.