By Marcy Stamper
New COVID infections have continued to drop in Okanogan County, consistent with the trend in North Central Washington and across the state.
Okanogan County recorded 20 new cases of the virus in the week ending Feb. 8, none in the Methow Valley. Wauconda registered its first infection. The cumulative number of infections is now 2,055.
The rate of new cases per 100,000 people dropped to 157, the lowest the county has seen since mid-December, when it was about 450.
Okanogan County Public Health announced one more death from the disease, bringing the toll to 34. The individual was a resident of Regency Harmony House Rehabilitation & Nursing Center in Brewster. The death was recently confirmed as related to COVID-19, Public Health said. All deaths attributed to COVID are verified with a death certificate, testing and other case information. Public Health delays the announcement of deaths out of respect for families.
The outlook is also improving in the other three counties in the north-central region (Chelan, Douglas and Grant), which must all show sufficient improvement in four areas — infection rates, hospitalization and ICU numbers, and test positivity — before the region can advance to the next phase of reopening.
Hospitalizations at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee have dropped to just seven, three in the ICU, down from 34 in mid-January. One of those hospitalized is from Okanogan County.
Case rates have also dropped in the region, with Grant County seeing the sharpest drop in the past week, from 529 to 404 per 100,000 population. Okanogan has the lowest rate of new infections among the four counties.
Hanging in there
The entire region is moving in the right direction and, if that trend continues, when the state releases the data it uses to make decisions on reopening this Friday (Feb. 12), things will look good for the region, Okanogan County Community Health Director Lauri Jones said.
“We appreciate your hanging in there so much,” Jones told the Okanogan County Economic Alliance last week, acknowledging that everyone is COVID-weary.
New infections have been declining throughout the state and, even though the overall number of cases is still high, the reproductive number has been well below one, meaning each individual who has COVID infects fewer than one other person).
Washington has identified at least three cases of the new, more contagious COVID variant that was first identified in the United Kingdom. The state Department of Health believes it is about one and a half times more transmissible, but said the vaccines currently being administered in the state appear to be protective against the strain.
