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County COVID-19 cases rising again

COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Mason County, according to Director of Community Services Dave Windom.

Speaking to the county commissioners during the Monday briefing, Windom said cases are up 217% in the past two weeks.

“We had gotten to a point where we were at zero deaths per 100,000 for 14 days and we had 1.5 hospitalizations per 14 days and those numbers have doubled,” Windom said. “That’s what it looks like on paper. That’s the problem with small numbers. Our deaths are back up again, we had a couple last week so we went back up to three per 100,000. Hospitalizations are up to three per 100,000 so it is starting to tick up.”

Windom said as the county looks at the rest of the state and Europe, which usually experiences COVID outbreaks before they reach the U.S., “we see that omicron is ramping up.” Windom said we’re not seeing a huge increase in hospitalizations.

“What we’re really going to watch is the rate of hospitalization as our real marker for what the disease load is in the community,” Windom said.

He said there is new information online about booster shots, including second boosters for those who are eligible.

“We’re just keeping an eye on things right now,” Windom said. “We have plenty of masks, we have plenty of tests. Building one is doing a great job of getting those out the door, people come in all the time. I think we’re kind of at a point now where we’re in a moderate mode and just watching what’s going on and reacting as things happen.”

According to Mason County Division of Emergency Management, the county recorded 60 cases April 29 to Sunday in the most recent update. The seven-day case rate per 100,000 people is 77.8 and the 14-day case rate is 129.5. The county is 59% fully vaccinated.

Take-home tests and masks are available at several locations in Mason County.

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Matt Baide, Reporter

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Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
Email: [email protected]

 

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