No first-dose COVID-19 vaccine clinics this week as Thurston adds just 15 cases Tuesday
Thurston County will not host vaccine clinics this week and only second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be available, said Schelli Slaughter, director of Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.
“We want residents to know that there’s no first doses of COVID-19 vaccines available,” Slaughter said. “There are second doses and people that have already received their first dose and are due for the second dose (should) make very sure that they follow up and get their second-dose appointment.”
Health Officer Dr. Dimyana Abdelmalek said the county is only receiving 600 doses this week, down from about 2,800 doses last week. She said the lack of first doses is largely due to the state prioritizing second doses.
“The state and all of us have a commitment that once someone receives their first dose, we do everything possible to ensure that they get their second dose in a timely fashion,” Abdelmalek said.
Slaughter said 500 of the 600 doses will go to pharmacies and the remaining 100 will go to adult family homes. Since the vaccine became available, 29,464 Thurston County residents have received a dose of the vaccine; 27,052 have received a first dose and 6,120 are fully vaccinated, she said.
People who already got their first vaccine dose should follow instructions from their provider to schedule their second dose appointment, Abdelmalek said. She said providers often rely on email reminders, but the county knows some people don’t have email or have easy access to it.
“Because some folks don’t have email, what we do as best practice is we schedule at the same clinic (as the first dose) in four weeks time for the second dose,” Abdelmalek said. “We use phone calls as well to let people know and get them into those appointments.”
The Board of County Commissioners expressed concern over the smaller allocation of doses this week, and instructed the county manager to write a letter to the governor relaying their concerns regarding vaccine distribution across the state.
Just 15 cases reported Tuesday
Thurston County reported just 15 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday as the local transmission rate continues to decline.
The added cases bring the county’s total number of cases to 6,685, according to data from Thurston County Public Health and Social Services. No new deaths have been reported in the past seven days, keeping the death total at 63.
The county saw just 204 new cases last week, the least since the week of Nov. 2. Cases have declined steadily since the week of Jan. 4 when the county saw 452 cases.
The state reported case rate in Thurston County of 200.8 cases per 100,000 people over two weeks between Jan. 17 and 30, furthering a decline that started since the holidays ended.
If the case rate is sustained around the 200 mark, high schools may be able to resume some in-person learning, in accordance with state guidelines, said Abdelmalek during the County Commissioners meeting Tuesday.
“What we have done in this county and is currently what we are planning to do again is to ensure it is a sustained 200 case per 100,000 over 14 days,” Abdelmalek said. “So we will be looking at that over an incubation period. Once we hit that 200 mark, I will be making some recommendations to our schools.”
Since the first case in the county was reported in March, 335 people have been hospitalized at some point in their illness and 5,018 have recovered or are recovering.
Additionally, the percent of positive test results over one week continues to decrease, from 7.4% the week of Jan. 25, to 5.8% Tuesday.
Thurston County jail outbreak
The county had eight ongoing outbreaks at congregate care settings as of Tuesday, down from nine reported Monday.
Among them is one at the Thurston County jail where five staff members and 24 inmates have tested positive as of Jan. 28, according to a statement from county spokesperson Magen Johnson.
The jail has conducted three rounds of testing since the outbreak started on Jan. 7, the most recent being Feb. 1, and more testing is still pending, according to the county. When the outbreak was first detected, three staff members and eight inmates had tested positive.
Individuals who tested positive have been moved into isolation for 10 day periods and close contacts have been quarantined for follow-up testing, according to the statement. All dormitories in the jail have been released from quarantine and the outbreak was contained to one dormitory.
Those who still need to quarantine are being held in a separate part of the facility, a county statement reads.
In the region
▪ Pierce County confirmed 78 new COVID-19 cases and five new deaths Tuesday. The county now has reported a total of 34,053 cases and 419 deaths.
▪ Grays Harbor County has reported 3,186 confirmed and probable cases and 40 deaths as of Tuesday.
▪ Lewis County Public Health & Social Services announced 13 COVID-19 cases and three related deaths on Tuesday, bringing the county’s total to 3,071 cases and 40 deaths.
▪ Mason County reported one new case on Tuesday for a total of 1,631 cases with 22 deaths.
▪ Pacific County reported one new case Tuesday for a total of 687 confirmed and probable cases with eight deaths.
In the state, nation and world
The state Department of Health had reported 324,025 confirmed and probable cases and 4,558 deaths as of Tuesday.
In the U.S., 27.2 million cases had been reported as of Wednesday with over 469,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Globally, over 107.2 million cases had been reported and more than 2.3 million people had died as of Wednesday, the data show.
This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 6:22 PM.
