The recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Grays Harbor County has prompted shifts in learning models at some schools and at least one temporary restaurant closure.
“Grays Harbor County is currently in the middle of its fourth wave of this pandemic,” said Maranatha Hay, Grays Harbor County Public Health public information officer. “We have 180 total number of confirmed cases for the time period between May 1 and May 13.”
As of Friday, the county has had 4,078 cases during the length of the pandemic. There were 60 new cases reported Thursday and Friday, and the rate per 100,000 population of newly diagnosed cases over two weeks has risen to 243.8, up from 224.8 just two days earlier.
The surge, at this point, doesn’t appear to have any connection to specific outbreaks, but contract tracing is ongoing.
“Anecdotally speaking, at this time, we can say that the cases are spread out in the community,” said Hay. “However, it might take some time to investigate and see if the cases are associated with any outbreaks.”
A comparison of the cases by zip code map updated by public health every Friday shows that the number of cases for the pandemic rose from 2,040 to 2,076 in the Aberdeen zip code between May 7 and May 14. Hoquiam’s case count grew by almost 50 that week, Montesano’s by 10, Westport’s by seven and Ocean Shores by five.
There has been an increase in COVID-19 testing in the county as well, and more than a third of the tests performed at the public health building in Aberdeen have come back positive.
“When it comes to testing, we’ve also been making records lately,” said Hay. “On May 10, we had our largest day of testing with 96 tests performed right outside the Health Department at our curative kiosk, and the positivity rate was very concerning. Last Thursday, 32.5% of tests performed at our site were positive for COVID-19.”
The curative kiosk testing is free and available at the south parking lot of the public health building located at 2109 Sumner Ave.
Vaccinations are readily available from providers across the county, go to vaccinelocator@doh.wa.gov and search by zip code to find the closest to you.
