Fifth wave of COVID-19 declared by Thurston County Health Officer

As coronavirus cases continue to rise, Thurston County Health Officer Dr. Dimyana Abdelmalek confirmed that the state had reached its fifth wave of COVID-19 transmission.

In a PSA video released yesterday, Abdelmalek shared that in the past 14 days, the COVID-19 transmission rate is at 481 cases per 100,000 population. The county health officer noted that numbers have drastically increased as compared to the winter surge.

The increase in transmission rates was a result of the Delta variant, a more contagious variant of the COVID-19 virus. As Abdelmalek explained, “this variant spreads much more easily between people than prior variants.”

In terms of vaccination, the health officer said that people who are unvaccinated and not fully vaccinated are more susceptible to the virus. Even residents who have been fully vaccinated can get infected and are still at risk of spreading the disease.

However, Abdelmalek noted that people who have been vaccinated are five times less likely to be infected by the virus, and 29 times less likely to be hospitalized as a result of the infection. “So vaccines continue to perform well and I continue to recommend everyone to get vaccinated when they are eligible.” She added that experts are still “learning a lot on how COVID-19 vaccines provide immunity.”

In the video, the health officer also advised those who are immunocompromised to get a third dose of the same COVID-19 vaccine. However, she noted that there is still no advisory yet on the need to get a second dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. In addition, booster doses are also not yet recommended and still waiting for federal approval.

Aside from encouraging residents to get vaccinated, Abdelmalek also reminded everyone to observe other mitigation measures such as wearing masks, avoiding crowds, and maintaining social distancing guidelines.

In addition, the health official also advised residents who are sick to stay home and get tested for COVID-19, even if they think that it might just be a mild illness.

Abdelmalek concluded, “cases are still significantly higher than we would like. But I know that if we all pull together as a community...I know we can bring this fifth wave to a close.”

In the past seven days, Thurston County reported a total of 727 COVID-19 cases, five hospitalizations, and 12 deaths. As of Monday, the county listed an additional 76 new cases.