Harborites get a literal shot in the arm

Nearly 1,000 Harborites went through the mass Covid-19 vaccination site that operated Wednesday through Friday this week in a drive through operation at a Port of Grays Harbor warehouse in the main Port area.

Things went very smoothly the first three days, said Nicklaus Falley, public information officer for the county’s Covid-19 Incident Management Team, with 203 vaccinations administered Wednesday, the first day of the mass vaccination operation, and another 405 on Thursday. He said 317 were scheduled for Friday and another 975 are planned for next Thursday at the same site, he said.

Eighteen volunteers helped to make things run efficiently, he said.

The online signup process for the mass vaccination sites run by the county’s incident management team, which includes representation from both hospitals, the county health department and local first response agencies, is accessible at http://www.healthygh.org/directory/covid19.

Case numbers

Between Friday, Jan. 22, and Wednesday, Jan. 27, 158 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Grays Harbor County, according to state Department of Health data.

That included 71 new cases reported Friday, Jan. 22, and 50 reported Wednesday. The total for the pandemic is 2,924 as of Wednesday.

One new death was reported Jan. 26, bringing the county’s total to 32, about 1.1% of the total number of cases. Hospitalizations were at 139 for the pandemic as of Wednesday, with eight reported since Jan. 22.

The most current data from the state Department of Health, Jan. 26, shows 4,748 doses of vaccine have been given in Grays Harbor County, but that likely doesn’t include numbers from the last few days at the mass vaccination site.

Free testing dates remain Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam. This is a drive-through site with no appointment necessary and is open to anyone over the age of 18 who wants to be tested.

A new map of cases by zip code was released by Grays Harbor Public Health Friday, showing more than half the cases attributed to the Aberdeen 98520 zip code, 1,520. The second highest number is 304 in the Hoquiam zip code. The Elma zip code has the third most with 224, followed by the Montesano 98563 zip code with 166.

Statewide

The state Department of Health issued a statement Friday saying case counts dropped sharply after the first week in January, and that case rates are still high but “are moving in the right direction.” Many counties saw sharp declines in case counts after the first week in January, including the five largest counties — Clark, King, Pierce, Snohomish and Spokane — and most medium sized counties including Thurston and several small counties.

Grays Harbor County falls into the category of counties experiencing smaller declines or flattening trends in January, according to the Department of Health statement. “Grays Harbor County experienced slight declines to late November levels,” read the statement.

Grays Harbor and three other counties (Thurston, Pacific and Lewis) will be considered to be in Phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan starting Monday. The state is split into several multi-county regions for the purpose of accessing progress at managing Covid-19. The West Region was one of only two in the state to move into the less restrictive Phase 2. The other region includes the heart of the population center in Puget Sound, King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

“While we are seeing some initial encouraging signs in the data, disease activity is still high and our state just detected the first cases of a variant that spreads more easily and quickly,” said Dr. Scott Lindquist, the state epidemiologist for communicable diseases. “Now is the moment to drive down our disease rates and free up more hospital capacity by reducing the number of severe cases that require hospitalization. We can all contribute by avoiding gatherings with people who don’t live with us, wearing masks, watching our distance and washing our hands.”