Eight new local covid cases reported in past month

There have been eight new cases of COVID-19 reported in local towns since Dec. 7. 

Since new cases have declined in recent weeks, Grant County Health District has begun updating case counts only once a week, on Thursdays, rather than every weekday, explained Public Information Officer Misty Aguilar. 

Regarding the Omicron variant, Aguilar told The Star on Tuesday, “Right now we don’t have any results that say the cases are Omicron, but that doesn’t mean it’s not here.” 

She said the district hasn’t been notified of any cases sequence tested from Grant County being identified as such, and that not all cases get sent for sequencing. 

“Next-generation sequencing is a set of laboratory methods that scientists use to scan a viral genome to determine the genome sequence of a virus,” a Dec. 29 Washington State Department of Health document explains. “A genome sequence of a virus is referred to as its ‘genomic fingerprint,’ and can reveal mutations in a virus that make it unique. Mutations are changes in a genome sequence and occur naturally over time.”

Out of 834 specimens sequenced out of Grant County in 2021, 719 were shown to be the Delta variant, 67 as Alpha, 15 as Gamma, 26 as Epsilon, one as Eta, and six as Iota, the DOH document shows. The names come from Greek alphabet letters.

Douglas, Okanogan, and Lincoln counties also all show no cases of Omicron.

The state of Washington as a whole has gone from 100% Delta cases in November, to 75% Delta and 24.9% Omicron from Dec. 5-18, with 0.1% listed as other. 

As of Dec. 30, the Grand Coulee and Electric City area of the county has seen 168 covid cases since the pandemic began, up by four since The Star’s last update on Dec. 7, with the additional cases being reported on Dec. 10, 16 and 30. 

The county hasn’t seen any additional deaths since the Dec. 7 update, with the county at a total of 212 deaths since the pandemic began, including 141 men and 71 women, with 99 of the deaths occurring in 2020, and 113 in 2021.

There were 10 people hospitalized in the county with covid as of Dec. 16, ranging in age from newborn to in their 70s.

According to Okanogan County Public Health, as of Jan. 3, Coulee Dam has seen a total of 105 cases, up by two since Dec. 7; Elmer City remains at 43, and Nespelem is up by two cases for a total of 140.

The county has seen a total of 77 covid deaths, including 36 men, 23 women, and 18 listed as unknown. 

Three of the deaths occurred in those ages 20-39, five between 40 and 59, 38 from 60 to 79. A dozen were 80 and older, and 19 are listed as having an “unreleased” age.

OCPH’s website displays a chart that shows Elmer City has the highest vaccination rate in the county with 85% of its residents being fully vaccinated, followed by Winthrop at 63%. Coulee Dam is third at 62% and Nespelem is sixth at 56%.

The county has had 75 cases in the past two weeks for an incidence rate of 174 cases per 100,000 people.

Grant County shows an incidence rate of 316.

The data show a much lower rate than what The Star reported on Sept. 29, when Okanogan County had a two-week incidence rate of 1,189, and Grant County had a rate of 1,137.