Covid-19 update

One more case of covid-19 was reported in Wahkiakum County in the last week, according to the Washington Department of Health, bringing their cumulative total for the county to 601.

“Wahkiakum is in the low risk category and all of our neighbors are in the moderate category,” Wahkiakum Health and Human Services Director Chris Bischoff said. “Hopefully if we have good uptake of the new booster we can keep cases down for the fall.”

The number of hospitalizations and deaths attributed to the virus in the county stand at 41 and nine, respectively.

Disclaimer: With the easy accessibility of at home tests, the actual number of active covid-19 cases and actual cumulative numbers in the county, are hard to know.

Governor Jay Inslee has announced that he will end his emergency order for covid-19 on October 31, according to Bischoff,

“This will sunset all of the emergency orders in place by him,” Bischoff said.

Bischoff went on to say that the masking orders from the state health officer, which currently only apply to health care facilities, are still in effect.

“WA DOH has indicated that there will be some changes to the masking order, but has not indicated what or when,” he added.

While 69.2 percent of the total population in the state of Washington has completed the primary series of the vaccine, only 51.5 percent of the same population in Wahkiakum County has done so.

A bivalent booster that covers the original strain of covid-19 as well as omicron and its two subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, is available at the WHHS clinic to anyone age 12 and up that has finished the primary series and had at least two months pass since their last dose or booster.

“This is the first reworking of the formula for covid-19 vaccines since they came out for both Moderna and Pfizer,” Bischoff said. “The hope is that this reworking will make this booster more effective against the most common current strains of covid-19.”

The new booster as well as the primary series of the Pfizer vaccine, which can be given to anyone six months and older, is available at the WHHS vaccine clinic on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30-3 p.m. Call 360-849-4041 for more information.

“We had nine people get the new booster last Wednesday, and 22 get it on Monday,” Bischoff said.

The Moderna vaccine, including a second booster, is available at the Cathlamet Pharmacy. Call 360-795-3691. Please note: The pharmacy has not yet received Moderna’s booster specific to omicron sub variants and they are not certain when it will arrive.