The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that six counties have their COVID-19 community levels rated as “high.” This also means that people in these six Washington state counties should begin wearing masks indoors, in public, and on public transportation again.
Information about COVID has been in the news without stop. The latest information from the CDC shows that Lewis County, Pacific County, Thurston County, Grays Harbor County, Garfield County and Spokane County all have COVID-19 community levels rated as “high.” This means that they have had 200 or more new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days, or they’ve had more than 20 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people within a seven-day period.
Sickly and immune vulnerable people should be award. The CDC said anyone at risk for severe illness in those six counties should consider taking additional precautions besides simply wearing a mask, like staying 6 feet away from others, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces, and washing their hands often.
Testing and awareness may be the issue. The Washington State Department of Health said earlier this week that the state is seeing a slight decline in cases as of June 12. However, self-testing or not testing at all may be contributing to the decline.
Washington State Department of Health officials said there is a slight uptick in hospitalizations but deaths remain stable. Hospitals are still very full and are reporting stress due to workforce shortages and difficulty discharging patients.
