The number of new reported COVID-19 cases in Lewis County continued to decline this week, according to data from Lewis County Public Health & Social Services (LCPHSS).
The department reported 47 new COVID-19 cases this week, down from 84 cases reported the week before.
“We’re very pleased to see the numbers continue to go down,” said LCPHSS Director JP Anderson.
Last week was the first time since the week of July 20, 2021, that Lewis County’s COVID-19 numbers were in the double digits, according to LCPHSS Epidemiologist Marylynne Kostick.
“Please note that positive home tests are not accounted for in the case counts that DOH (the state Department of Health) or LCPHSS reports out,” Kostick wrote in an email to The Chronicle on Wednesday.
Twelve new hospitalizations — an increase from the previous week — and three deaths from COVID-19 were reported in Lewis County this week.
At the Lewis County Mall COVID-19 testing site over the last week, 102 individuals were tested, marking 8,163 total tests administered since the site opened in late November 2021.
Vaccination levels in Lewis County increased slightly from the previous week, with 50.6% of all Lewis County residents now fully vaccinated and with 56% of residents in all age groups having initiated vaccination.
As reported cases of COVID-19 continue to go down, LCPHSS is working on stepping down its COVID-19 incident management team: an internal team within the department that has been meeting weekly to develop the department’s goals and objectives for dealing with the public health crisis.
“It’s a big part of emergency response that is fairly symbolic, I guess at this point, that we haven’t had a lot of new objectives in the last several months, but it’s a meaningful time for us in our department as we discontinue that team,” Anderson said.
Anderson expressed his appreciation for county staff and residents “who have weathered this storm and gotten through what was a really really traumatic, tough time for all of us,” he said.
The department will continue doing work related to COVID-19 and will continue releasing weekly updates on case numbers, Anderson said.
“But again, a very ongoing and meaningful decline again this week and we are changing our footing in our department to mark that by ending our incident management team,” he said.
The local downward trend in cases is reflected statewide, and in line with that data, Gov. Jay Inslee is set to lift the state’s indoor mask mandate on March 12.
