Peninsula COVID-19 cases, infection rates reported: 12 more in Clallam, none in Jefferson

Clallam County reported 12 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, with five of those cases tied to one family, according to Clallam County Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry, while Jefferson County reported no new cases.

Clallam County has confirmed 936 total positives since the pandemic began in March. There were 55 active cases in the county and four people in the hospital as of Sunday. The listed case rate is 84 per 100,000 over the past two weeks.

The county has vaccinated 16 percent of its population, with 11,842 people receiving at least one of the two shots needed for full vaccination.

Jefferson County has had 303 positives since March with 23 active cases in quarantine. The listed case rate in Jefferson County is 72.10 per 100,000 over the past two weeks.

However, Jefferson County Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke said he expects that the report of the infection rate will rise to more than 100 per 100,000 today because of eight new positives reported in the county Friday. The infection rate is reported weekly, on Mondays.

Locke said new cases among young adults and adolescents are driving the latest numbers in Jefferson County.

Locke will give his usual COVID-19 update to Jefferson County commissioners at 9:45 a.m. today.

Locke expects vaccine availability and deployment to be the main topics of discussion, as well as the different virus variants that are beginning to show up from the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil and even California..

Locke stressed that while some of these new variants are more contagious, they are not resistant to vaccines. However, he called it a “race against time” to get people vaccinated as the COVID-19 virus continues to mutate into different strains.