Health officials confirmed a new case of the coronavirus in Jefferson County over the weekend.
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Health officials confirmed a new case of the coronavirus in Jefferson County over the weekend.
Public health officer Tom Locke said the investigation into the case began on Sunday, June 14.
“There’s still some unanswered questions,” he said at his weekly briefing to county commissioners on June 15. “It certainly does appear that the transmission appeared within the county, but there might be some multi-state links involved. There’s going to be a lot of contacts, and a number of potential sources.”
While many counties in Western Washington are seeing the number of cases level off, Locke said eastern counties in the state are seeing continued increases of case numbers.
“In Washington state it’s looking like we may be moving out of the leveling off phase into an increasing phase,” Locke said. “There’s some very concerning things going on in Eastern Washington. Especially in Yakima, Benton and Franklin counties things are looking like they were looking in King County and Seattle back in March.”
The rate of growth is not only going up, but becoming exponential, he said.
This could be because of the agricultural industry in Eastern Washington.
“You have a migratory workforce, living conditions that are often very crowded, sometimes substandard, impaired access to healthcare and optimal sanitation,” Locke said. “In terms of production facilities, the poultry and meat packing plants are designed for people to work in very close proximity.”
Locke said the growth of cases cannot be attributed to protests and rallies that have occurred across the country in the past few weeks.
“There’s a two- to three-week lag between events that can increase transmission and when we can actually measure it,” he said. “If there’s going to be a surge related to the racial justice demonstrations that have been occurring, this week is when we would start to see that.”
While protesters attempted to be mindful of social distancing and wearing masks, Locke said the use of tear gas, which can cause coughing and respiratory distress, by police could increase risk of transmission.
“People being locked up in holding cells is also a risk for exposure,” he said.
