(Airdate: June 8, 2021) In another interview done by PTHS Senior Emillia Nunn, Pierre Ballou is a graduating Senior in the class of 2021. His wide range of interests span from the history and lore behind Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings, to a long-time interest in the animal world. Pierre outlines his upcoming trip to volunteer with an animal rescue organization in Africa.
(Airdate: June 7, 2021) On this Attention Please! we hear perspectives on foster parenting through the words of foster parents Ari and B.G. Patterson and Olympic Angels caseworker Morgan Hanna. Ari Patterson has witnessed foster parenting from the perspective of a foster child and a foster parent and is now a passionate advocate for foster children and foster parents.
The following is a summary of the presentation made by Dr. Tom Locke, our local Public Health Officer and Willie Bence, Director, DEM, Jefferson County, during the Public Health briefings at this week’s Board of County Commissioners meeting. The summary was provided by and used with the permission of Jefferson County Government.
County Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke reported that Jefferson County has a 72.4% vaccination rate for those 16 and older. And Jefferson’s infection rate went up a small amount, 12.5 to 15.7 cases per 100,000 or five cases in the last two weeks. And that’s that’s among the lowest in the state.
Monetary incentives are being used to increase vaccination participation, and Washington State has instituted a campaign,“ Shot of a Lifetime.” Everyone who’s in the State Department of Health COVID vaccination registry has been entered into this lottery. The first drawing will be on Tuesday 6/8 for a $250,000 prize, and then there’ll be weekly drawings on June 15, 22, 29, and July 6. The $1 million drawing will be held on July, 13.
COVID variants are all getting new names. To help keep track: the UK variant is now considered the Alpha variant; the South African variant is now being called the Beta; the Brazilian variant is Gamma; the variant that arose in India is Delta, and the California variants are known as Epsilon. Dr. Locke said it’s mostly the Alpha variant that was first from the United Kingdom, and the Epsilon variants from California that are circulating in Washington.
Jefferson County QFC, Safeway and Tri-Area pharmacies are still offering the vaccine, as is Jefferson Healthcare Express Clinic located at the hospital. You don’t have to be a patient at the hospital to be vaccinated. You may also ask for immunization from your local healthcare provider.
Everyone still has to wear a mask indoors – regardless of vaccination status. The Jefferson County business community is experiencing an influx of visitors from out of the area who seem to be unaware of our local masking mandate. Some locals may be unaware or a bit resistant to continuing to mask locally. Jefferson County Public Health has developed signage and posters that reminds all of Dr. Locke’s masking directive. Look for them posted around the area.
Director of Emergency Management Willie Bence told the Commissioners that this week the Department of Emergency Management will partner with the state health department to provide vaccinations to homebound individuals. The Department has also partnered with organizations that will provide a free ride to a clinic as well. If you or someone you know needs these types of assistance, call 360-344-9791.
Submit your Public Health questions to Dr. Tom Locke by emailing [email protected]. Note: The weekly deadline for these to be submitted is on Fridays at noon, to be answered at the following Monday’s BOCC meeting.
This graph shows the monthly and cumulative number of COVID-19 infections reported in Jefferson County, from March 2020 through May 2021. Data source: Jefferson County Public Health Department website, graph created by KPTZ.
As of May 31, 2021 the total number of COVID-19 cases in Jefferson County was 416. This due to an increase of 26 cases in the past month, a significant reduction from 45 new cases last month.
Before the arrival of settlers in the nineteenth century, the original people of the North Olympic Peninsula tended a vast prairie landscape to produce the food, medicines, and plant-based materials their culture depended upon. Today, those original prairie ecosystems have all but vanished. But now, on a few acres adjacent to the Dungeness River Audubon Center, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe is seeking to re-establish a traditional prairie. This week on the Compass, we visit the site with the two young tribal members who are leading the project.
Through Science to Health co-hosts, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker and Lynn Sorensen, RN, brought back a guest to the program today. Jesse Maupin, MD, currently a Hospitalist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison Medical Center.
Jesse is a PTHS graduate and will be returning to the Northwest for a Fellowship at the University of Washington Medical Center this summer. Jesse spoke to his experience working in the hospital this past year with the stress of caring for COVID-19 patients compounded by the uncertainty of what was coming next, and an actual fear for his personal safety.
Note: June 18 will be the last edition of Through Science to Health for Lynn and Chris. Thanks to the high vaccination rates locally and nationally, the pandemic is waning and restrictions are being lifted.
Today on Brewocracy Now KPTZ host Tim Quackenbush and City Manager John Mauro discussed a variety of topics including solutions to affordable housing.
For a compendium of upcoming featured programs, check out KPTZ’s Spotlight. Many of our program hosts provide specifics about what’s planned for the first half of June.
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See KPTZ’s current Weekly On-Air Schedule and Daily Program Schedule.
(Reprise airdate: June 2, 2021) In the second of a set of conversations about the native trees of the Quimper Peninsula, Nan Evans and Erik Kingfisher spend an afternoon in the field looking for and talking about the broad leaf trees – both the deciduous ones and the evergreen broad leafs.
