SOUTH BEND — As 2020 mercifully comes to an end this week, the spread of covid-19 locally has also mercifully continued to recede, albeit slowly.

The Pacific County Health and Human Services Department reported 20 new cases of the virus over the past week, bringing the county’s total count to 569 cases since the pandemic began.

The 20 new cases are down from 40 cases over the same seven-day span from the previous week, and the case rate per 100,000 people over a two-week period in Pacific County as of Dec. 28 is 208, down from 305 on Dec. 21. There are currently 28 active cases in the county, local health officials said, with active cases spread throughout all areas of the county.

Some of the recent cases can be attributed to an outbreak at an assisted care facility, according to county officials. Testing was conducted at the undisclosed facility both last week and this week.

According to weekly zip code data disclosed by the department on Dec. 23, a majority of recent cases are of people who list a north county address as their permanent residence. Seven new cases each were reported of people who list an Ocean Park address, bringing the community’s total case count to 37. Long Beach, Ilwaco and Naselle were each attributed just one new case, while Raymond and South Bend were attributed 18 combined cases, bringing their respective totals to 253 and 136 cases.

Wahkiakum County’s total case count increased to 54 over the past week. Clatsop County reported 48 new cases over the same period, increasing its total to 551 cases. Statewide confirmed covid-19 cases totaled 229,672 on Dec. 21, with 14,276 patients hospitalized and 3,195 fatalities reported since the pandemic began.

County receives more vaccine doses

Pacific County received more aid in the fight to vanquish covid-19 last week, as it received 500 doses of the newly authorized Moderna vaccine, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

As of the Observer’s Dec. 29 print deadline, it has not been disclosed which health facility in the county received the batch of Moderna doses. Counting the 975 doses of Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine that the Ocean Beach Hospital received earlier this month, nearly 1,500 doses have been distributed to Pacific County so far. Both Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccine require a two-shot regimen for maximum efficacy.

According to Pacific County Administrative Officer and Risk Manager Kathy Spoor, several drive-thru events are scheduled over the next couple of weeks to vaccinate county residents in Phase 1a — high-risk health workers and staff and residents of long-term care facilities. The county must receive the OK from state officials before beginning to vaccinate people in Phase 1b, a group that includes people age 75 and older and front-line essential workers.

“We have to contact the state when we think we’ve got our 1a [vaccinations completed], and if there’s other counties that need the additional vaccine, that vaccine will be transferred out of here before we move to 1b,” Spoor said. “The state is really concerned about counties moving between priority groups at different paces … at this point, that is their direction. It may change as we continue to roll this out.”

Spoor also said that the county health department’s north county office has been approved to receive covid-19 vaccine doses. Other local facilities known to have been approved to receive doses include OBH and Peninsula Pharmacies.