The following is a recording of the presentation during the Public Health briefings at this week’s Board of County Commissioners meeting made by Jefferson and Clallam County Public Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry. Also Willie Bence, Director of Emergency Management, gave a report. The summary below was provided by Jim Burke, producer of KPTZ’s Tuesday’s Local News.

Dr. Berry said that news of transmission and disease from COVID-19 is “relatively good,” and on the national level, cases, hospitalizations and deaths are on a downtrend this week. We are down to 334 deaths per day nationwide due to COVID-19, but for reference, she added that number is about three times the death rate of a severe FLU season. Jefferson County Public Health reports the two-week COVID-19 case rate is 221 per 100,000 people, still in the high category. 32 new cases were added in the past week, so there have been 7,080 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. There were no deaths this week. No one is currently hospitalized with Covid-19 in Jefferson County. Willie Bence spoke about resilience on the Olympic Peninsula in light of the Hood Canal bridge closures planned for this summer,