COVID cases spiking in Skagit County

Twenty-five cases of the coronavirus at the Mira Vista Care Center in Mount Vernon, first reported July 1, lead the 100 cases of the coronavirus confirmed in Skagit County in the June 28-July 11 period. The Mira Vista cases included one death, raising to 16 the number of Skagit County deaths linked to COVID-19 infections since tracking began in February.

Fourteen residents and 11 staff there have the virus, Director of Public Health Jennifer Johnson told the County Board of Health Friday at its bi-weekly meeting. Public Health staff report that the Center has implemented state mandated care protocols for presumptive positive cases.

The 20 cases confirmed July 4 boosted that week’s case total to 50. Twenty-nine cases were confirmed July 11, part of a second week of 50 cases. Another 17 cases were confirmed Sunday and Monday.

Johnson reported the County is “over double the metric” at 51.9 cases per 100,000 residents per two weeks. For the County’s 130,000 residents, 25 cases is the limit for the state’s risk assessment dashboard. “As a community we have some work to do,” she told the Board. The testing metric of under 2% cannot be met given the high rate of confirmed cases. Now it is 3.2%.

“We have seen an increase of cases and increased likelihood of exposure. The more cases we have the more probability of risk at some locations,” she said, naming workplaces, childcare and long-term care. Her staff have a strong employer outreach effort: “Our goal is to help businesses open and stay open,” she said. “We know we need a strong economy and we need to have schools and businesses open.”

Over 2,000 people were tested at the public site at Skagit Valley College last week, with 505 tested July 6. The public health program is strong, she said. Residents need to do their part to contain the spread and repeated the mantra: “We must social distance; wear a mask in public at all times; wash your hands; if you are sick stay home and self-quarantine. These measures will make a very big difference,” she stressed, saying “we have to work together to reduce our numbers if we want to move to Phase 3”

County Commissioner Lisa Janeki asked about a schedule for reaching Phase 4, but the only metric the county has met since entering Phase 2 June 5 is the minimum three-week time period. Achieving Phase 3 in 2020 will be difficult given the treends Johnson cited.

Johnson noted that the state has paused all counties being approved for advancing to another Phase.

Too many people are gathering together and too many people are traveling, County Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Leibrand said. He also stressed that everyone must limit their interactions to five people the entire week who are not part of their household.

“The problem is we have increased number of people being exposed,” he said, citing seven of 12 cases connected to travel to Arizona. Another 25 cases are from workplace transmission he said. “A lot of spread of disease at workplaces is from not masking or social distancing.”

Contract tracing analysis finds people with the virus have multiple contact, up to 25, he said. These cases are of people not wearing masks and being in roomfuls of people.

“It is important to do everything we can to reduce that spread,” he told the Board. Testing is not the problem and more testing allows public health to do its job.

“I would like to be optimistic now that we are on the right track, but I am concerned with increasing numbers, pretty much 100 cases in last 14 days,” he emphasized.

The Board will next meet July 23.