PACIFIC COUNTY — The onslaught of coronavirus cases continued unimpeded in Pacific County over the past week, with the highly transmissible Delta variant beginning to put a strain on local and regional hospitals.

Another 83 newly reported cases as of Aug. 16 were reported in the county over the previous week for a pandemic total of 1,326 cases, including 27 cases last Thursday alone — the second-highest day on record since the pandemic began, according to the Pacific County Health and Human Services Department.

The county’s case rate per 100,000 people over a two-week period stands at 522, up from 462 a week ago and about 100 just a month ago. Over the last 30 days, cases in Pacific County have increased by more than 600%, among the highest in the state.

The influx of cases, not just in Pacific County but Washington and Oregon as a whole, has started to put a strain on hospitals as staffed ICU beds continue to fill up.

The Washington State Department of Health said that covid-19 related hospital admissions reached November 2020 levels as of Aug. 8, which was perhaps the most miserable month of the pandemic in the state to date. Covid-related admission rates are increasing in all 18-and-older age groups, with 95% of hospitalized cases since February coming from people who were not fully vaccinated.

Local challenges

Throughout the pandemic, nearly all county residents who have been hospitalized by the virus have been transferred to out-of-county hospitals to receive care. But county health director Katie Lindstrom said she knows of at least two patients in just the past couple of weeks who had to remain at a hospital in the county because of bed or staffing shortages at the hospitals that patients from Pacific County have normally been sent to.

For being such small hospitals, Lindstrom said Ocean Beach Hospital and Willapa Harbor Hospital have been “amazing” during the pandemic and are doing all they can with what they have, but said they don’t have the equipment or staffing to be able to provide the level of care that larger hospitals offer for coronavirus patients.

“Yes, staying at the local small hospital is better than nothing, but it’s not what the patient needs,” Lindstrom said. “They were never set up to be those kinds of hospitals.”

Across the river, The Astorian reported late last week that Columbia Memorial Hospital was canceling elective surgeries to free up beds for coronavirus patients. The 25-bed hospital had eight in-house virus patients as of Aug. 13 and was not expecting an immediate shortage, but moved forward because of an anticipated surge in the coming days.

“We’ve seen teenagers here. This is no longer just a concern for the elderly or the immune-deficient,” said Nancee Long, the hospital’s director of communications.

On the peninsula, OBH CEO Larry Cohen said the hospital currently does not have plans to suspend elective surgeries, but noted it is something administrators are evaluating daily. OBH suspended elective surgeries in the earliest days of the pandemic, but resumed most surgeries and services within a couple of months.

The county health department is hosting a drive-thru testing event at the South County Administration Building at 7013 Sandridge Rd. in Long Beach on Aug. 18. The event is for county residents who are symptomatic or close contacts of a positive case, and is first-come, first-served.

A full list of covid-19 testing options in the county can be found at tinyurl.com/cc4he3r7.

Statewide unity on masks

Last week, local health officials from all 35 health jurisdictions in Washington issued a joint statement recommending all residents — regardless of vaccination status — to wear a mask or facial covering in indoor public settings “where the vaccination status of those around you is unknown.”

“This step will help reduce the risk of covid-19 to the public, including customers and workers, help stem the increase in covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in many parts of the state and decrease the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant,” the statement reads. The statement was signed by Pacific County Public Health Officer Dr. Steven Krager and several dozen other health officers in the state.

Gov. Jay Inslee lifted the statewide mask mandate for vaccinated people earlier this summer, but it’s become obvious since then that unvaccinated people have also stopped wearing masks in public settings. That, coupled with how much more transmissible the Delta variant is than earlier strains of the virus, has helped lead to the surge in cases and hospitalizations that the state is now witnessing.

Since then, two counties in the state — Snohomish and Thurston — have brought back their own masking requirements for indoor public settings. Masks are also still required statewide in K-12 settings, public transportation, hospitals and other congregate settings.

The authority to implement a masking requirement in Pacific County lies in the hands of the local Board of Health, of which the three members are the county commissioners: Lisa Olsen, Frank Wolfe and Mike Runyon.