8 COVID-19 identified in Grays Harbor since start of July

After a weekend that saw 7 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Grays Harbor, an additional case was identified on Monday.

Grays Harbor Public Health and Grays Harbor Emergency Management sent a notice regarding 7 cases of COVID-19 among Grays Harbor County residents from July 2 through the 4th of July weekend.

On Monday, local health officials say that an additional case was identified, bringing the July total case count to 8.

Of the 7 cases identified in 24 hours between Sunday and Monday, case investigators say that they came to the conclusion that 3 of the 7 were close contacts of previously identified COVID-19 positive cases.

1 is a household member and the other 2 are household members of one another.

The other 4 have unknown exposures and are not related to one another.

Public Health is actively monitoring 8 of the 34 COVID-19 positive cases and monitoring over 30 close contacts.

Even though there were 7 cases identified in 24 hours, Grays Harbor Public Health, the Washington State Department of Health, and the Center of Disease Control (CDC) do not classify this as an outbreak.

Outbreaks are defined as 2 or more non-household cases epidemiologically linked within 14 days in a workplace, congregate living, or institutional setting.

Starting today, under the mask mandate from Governor Jay Inslee and Washington State Secretary of Health Dr. John Weismen, businesses will not be allowed to serve any customer, services, or goods if they do not comply with the State-Wide face covering order.

The Governor and Secretary of Health also announced a two week pause from any county moving forward in Safe Start’s Phased reopening. Grays Harbor County is currently in Phase 3.

Case counts

Grays Harbor County has 34 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

March 2020: 2 cases
April 2020: 10 cases
May 2020: 5 cases
June 2020: 9 cases
July 2020: 8 cases

Grays Harbor County Public Health continues to operate a COVID-19 Call Center to provide assistance for people with information and testing referrals. Assistance is available in both English and Spanish. Call (360) 964-1850. The call center is available Monday through Friday, 8:30am-12pm and 12:30pm-4pm.