The Delta variant of COVID is sweeping through the nation, hitting the unvaccinated and vaccinated. The vaccines are offering protection from this variant by generally not putting the vaccinated people in the hospital.
According to Pacific County Department of Health and Human Services Director Katie Lindstrom, "It [The Delta variant] is much, much more infectious than previous variants of the disease; for every one person who gets infected now, around six people are getting infected. Prior it was 1 to 1 or 1 to 2, but now it is 1 to 6, that is what the national data is telling us."
When the pandemic started, the 60 plus age group were infected with COVID the most, but now COVID is infecting younger people.
"The cases are happening in younger people than before," Lindstrom continued. "That has to do with the high vaccination rate in the older population." She also pointed out that COVID cases are still happening all through Pacific County.
COVID-19 Stats Update September 1, 2021
Cases
- New cases from 8/25 to 9/1: 61
- New cases over the last 14 days: 167
- Case rate per 100k over last 14 days: 790
- Active cases: 114
- Total cases since start of pandemic: 1,514
Hospitalizations
- New hospitalizations over the last 7 days: 10
- Total hospitalizations since start of pandemic: 76
Deaths
- Total deaths since start of pandemic: 20
Lindstrom also pointed out the case rate per 100k is a level measure of COVID cases in all the counties no matter their population size.
"We are at 790 which is extremely high," she said. "It is down a tad from 822 last week, but that is a pretty negligible difference. 790 is extremely, extremely high. There has only been one other time in the pandemic when we've been this high. That was back in November last year and it wasn't sustained at this high level like it is now. We are more concerned now because our case rate does not seem to be going down. It seems to be plateauing at this high level."
The numbers keep changing on a daily basis. For an updated weekly list of vaccine clinics or to find COVID-19 testing sites visit www.pacificcountycovid19.com.