PACIFIC COUNTY — Case rates in Washington’s southwesternmost corner have remained comparatively low in recent weeks, but local health officials are staying vigilant as the global ramifications of the recently discovered Omicron variant are yet to be fully realized.

There were 36 active cases in Pacific County as of Dec. 5, and the case rate per 100,000 people over the past two weeks sat at 184, according to county health director Katie Lindstrom. A total of 2,150 cases have been reported in the county since the beginning of the pandemic.

While cases have quieted down from the summer’s extended peak, the health department did report three new deaths over the past week, raising the county’s pandemic death toll to 37. The three most recent deaths included two individuals in their 80s, as well as one person in their 50s.

The county has reported 122 covid-related hospitalizations since the pandemic began, but hospitals on both ends of the county are on the precipice of being equipped with a new tool that has shown to be effective in helping prevent the most severe complications caused by the virus.

Lindstrom said that both Ocean Beach Hospital in Ilwaco and Willapa Harbor Hospital in South Bend are expected to start receiving shipments of monoclonal antibodies next week. Everyone over 65 is eligible to receive the antibodies, as well as people who meet certain conditions. Eligible people are best served by receiving the treatment as soon as they realize they test positive for covid-19, and it has to be done within the first 10 days.

“If you’re eligible, you can get referred by your provider or one of our public health nurses could help facilitate a referral for you,” Lindstrom said.

Omicron concernsAs global health leaders continue to study the Omicron variant that was first identified by genomic sequencing in South Africa, three western Washington counties were the first in the state to report a positive test of the new variant over the weekend.

On Dec. 4, the Washington State Department of Health, in partnership with the UW Medicine Virology Lab, confirmed three cases of the Omicron variant found in Thurston, Pierce and King counties. DOH said that it does not believe the cases are related, and stressed that not much is known clinically about the variant at this time, including if and how much more transmissible it is than the Delta variant and the severity of disease it causes.

“Omicron may pose new challenges that we will need to respond to, but compared to the early days of the pandemic, we know much more about covid-19, and we’re better prepared for it,” said Jeff Duchin, public health officer for Seattle and King County. “We know layered protections work together to maximally reduce risk, and that will continue to be the case for Delta and for Omicron if that becomes a dominant strain circulating in our community.”

Early reports out of South Africa indicate that the variant is more transmissible than Delta but causes less severe disease, but Lindstrom stressed that epidemiologists have much more to learn about Omicron and no firm conclusions have been reached. “I’m sure it’s a matter of time before we start popping up with some cases [of Omicron].”

Locally, Lindstrom said not much can be done but to wait for more information about the variant to come to light and continue to wear masks in public, get vaccinated and get a booster shot when you’re eligible to do so.

“We don’t know for sure how close of a match the [existing] vaccines will be for Omicron, but [epidemiologists] are fairly certain that it’s going to provide some protection, so they are really strongly encouraging everyone who is eligible to get boosted to get boosted, and of course anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated to go out and get vaccinated,” Lindstrom said.