Virus Watch Podcasts

The following is a summary of the presentation made by Dr. Locke, our local Health Officer, during the Public Health briefings at this week’s Board of County Commissioner’s meeting:

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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.

The following is a summary of the presentation made by Dr. Tom Locke, our local Health Officer, during the Public Health briefings at this week’s Board of County Commissioner’s meeting:

General remarks:

Click here to read the complete message

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.

On this episode of Through Science to Health, host Chris Bricker talks once again with Dr. Joe Mattern, Chief Medical Officer for Jefferson Health Care. He’s charged with overseeing the logistics of distributing the COVID-19 vaccines for Jefferson Healthcare.

Dr. Mattern gives us an overview of logistics, from supply and allocation to scheduling. He emphasizes the importance of following protocols, even after receiving the second dose. He also discusses the variants of the virus, dosage efficacy, and projections for getting our population here in the county vaccinated. He describes the collaborative and thorough planning taking place that assures that no one is left behind. He also walks us through the steps that we should expect at the vaccination site.

Today, January 25th, 2021, our local Public Health Officer, Dr. Tom Locke shared his assessment of the pandemic in Jefferson County and answered questions submitted from KPTZ listeners.

Dr. Locke spoke of the need to temper our expectations, as the vaccine supply is limited as well as the enormity of the task of vaccinating so many residents.

General remarks:

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This afternoon on Through Science to Health KPTZ’s host Chris Bricker summarized some of the national COVID-19 statistics and Lynn Sorensen, RN reviewed Dr Locke’s January 19 update to the BOCC and community. Vaccines to protect the populace against COVID-19 are being given through Jefferson Healthcare’s drive up clinics with registration online through the JHC website. The rollout of the vaccine depends on supply that the state distributes each week to the counties. New guidelines were announced by the state of Washington this week on the tiers/ages eligible for the vaccine. The community is asked to be patient with the process.

The following is a summary of the presentation made by Dr. Locke, our local Health Officer, during the Public Health briefings at this week’s Board of County Commissioner’s meeting:

Note: As of this day, Jefferson County now has 269 cases, with 125 cases per 100,000 population, a 3.18% case positivity. Neighboring Clallam County has 154 cases per 100,000 population with 8.5% new case positivity. Both counties remain among the lowest in both metrics in Washington.  Mason County has recorded 360 cases per 100,000 population and 19.8% positivity for new cases, with Kitsap County at 233.cases per 100,000 and 12.5% positivity.  The metrics for Mason, Kitsap, Jefferson and Clallam Counties are tied together in determining progression to the next phase of loosening restriction for re-opening under the RoadMap to Recovery statewide plan.

Today, January 19, Public Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke shared about the recent Jefferson County increase in COVID-19 cases. He answered questions from KPTZ listeners about:

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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. 

The following is a summary of the presentation made by Dr. Locke, our local Health Officer, during the Public Health briefings at this week’s Board of County Commissioner’s meeting:

Today, January 11, Public Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke shared his assessment of the pandemic in Jefferson County and answered questions submitted from KPTZ listeners.

Note: Next Public Health update will occur on Tuesday, January 19th due to the Martin Luther King Holiday on Monday.

General opening remarks:   

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Today on Through Science to Health Chris Bricker, KPTZ host, and Lynn Sorensen, RN welcomed Dr. Joe Mattern of Jefferson Health Care to join our conversation regarding the ongoing response to the pandemic. Joe Mattern, MD is JHC’s Chief Medical Officer and the Medical Director for JHC’s Home Health and Hospice. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have arrived in Jefferson County and healthcare workers were the first to be offered vaccinations.

Dr Mattern is charged with the logistics of what group of community members will be next for the vaccine. And how to best notify those selected. Not everyone has internet or uses JHC’s My Chart EMR. The CDC has advisory guidelines for the people most at risk for contracting COVID-19 but it is up to the individual states/Governors to decide on the distribution of the vaccine and who is next in line.

Public Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke shared an update regarding the pandemic picture in Jefferson County: The national picture continues to show certain region experiencing steep increase in new infections, while other regions’ new cases are slowing. The South and Southwest U.S. are experiencing the greatest increase in new infections. Overall, new infections are up 10% over the last two weeks and the deaths continue. Washington’s cases are plateauing, with new cases slowing. Hospitalization use is at an all time high. Counties surrounding Jefferson continue to be higher than state guidelines for suppression of the virus, but beginning to slow. Jefferson County stands at 59.6 per 100,000 population, down from the last update and 2-3% of all tests are positive.

Vaccines arrived in Jefferson County last Tuesday. 975 doses, about half of which have been administered, came on Tuesday. Appointments continue to be made for those on the priority list. Priority categories can be viewed on the Washington State Department of Health website. Prioritizations initially are issued from the CDC as well as state and local entities as needed. Dr. Locke estimates about 1 million persons will step forward to be vaccinated by the end of February 2021.

Approaching the end-of-year holidays, Dr. Locke reminds us that we have not yet seen the worst of the winter surge. Locally our behavior over the Thanksgiving holiday changed enough to avoid a community surge. Cases continue to be primarily among those who mix household members or who receive visitors from outside our county, who unknowing infect those household members. Restricting movement among members of different households is easier and needs to continue to avoid a surge that could appear after the holidays. See the recommendations on the JC Public Health website. Testing for travel is still limited in Jefferson County. Washington will begin a program for vouchers for COVID-19 testing through Walgreens.

Answers to questions from KPTZ listeners:

• After traveling, it is not necessary to forgo scheduled medical or dental visits, except when receiving invasive dental procedures. Discuss with your provider.
• Suicides are thought to rise during the holidays, when in fact, they do not. What does increase is drinking, anxiety and drug use.
• COVID-19 theoretically can be introduced to your eyes and travel to your nose, where it gains entry to your body, but is typically inhaled through the nose.
• The amounts of vaccine doses shipped to each state are based on the percent of the population present in each priority group established by the CDC. It is a description of those at highest risk of serious disease and exposure. Local counties have some leeway to adjust the hierarchy. Review by a consortium of experts on vaccine safety for the western states will not hold up distribution to our state.
• Two-thirds of coronavirus negative tests are primarily taken when someone has symptoms or has exposure to a positive case. One-third are taken for those undergoing pre-procedure testing. No influenza has been seen in Jefferson County to date.
• Improvement in health outcomes for serious COVID-19 disease has come from improved clinical management. Newer FDA-approved drugs have made modest improvements. Masking appears to reduce infectious viral dose.
• To avoid recurring surges, masking needs to improve. Trend toward more aggressive enforcement of masking and a possible ban on face shields for improved source control may be on the horizon. Discussions are also looking at strategies for enforcement of store capacity to reduce spread.
• COVID-19 tests for travel and families who want small gatherings are limited. Other options are purchasing test kits in stores or online.
• Vaccinations stimulate your body to react to the presence of a virus or bacteria. Current vaccines for COVID-19 prevent progression to serious clinical illness, as measured in the randomized clinical trials. Both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines will provide 95% protection of stopping the virus from sufficiently reproducing. Infectiousness of individuals after they got the vaccine and got infected were not studied in the trial, but are underway. Assume that 5% of the population who gets the vaccine and gets the virus can spread the virus, as the vaccine was not protective enough to stop the virus from rapidly reproducing.
• Continued masking is critical as the vaccine fails in about 5% of those getting the shot. We also need to get about 60-70% of the population inoculated to sufficiently suppress circulation of the virus.
• There is no need to have anyone test for previous COVID-19 infection as determined by antibody tests. The degree of protection from natural infection is variable. Vaccines may be better protection than natural infection. It’s not a problem to get the vaccine if they have concurrent asymptomatic infection. If symptomatic, the advice is to have symptoms clear before getting the vaccine.
• New strains appear because viruses are always mutating, especially the COVID-19. The new strain seen in England and South Africa has been under the radar of scientists since September of this year. It appears to facilitate faster spread as evidenced in the change in the R naught number, 1.1 to 1.5. It appears to be 70% more effective in spreading quickly. Mutations rarely affect vaccine effectiveness. New mRNA technology makes adapting vaccines easier.
• All vaccines have expected and well documented side effects. More serious adverse events have been seen with these vaccines such as anaphylactic shock. This reaction has been seen before and is treatable. With more individuals vaccinated, we will discover more rare adverse events, but the important word is “rare”.
• The Department of Emergency Management does not currently have a role in vaccine distribution or rollout at this time; They will follow the lead actions as determined by Jefferson Healthcare and the Public Health Officer, Dr. Tom Locke.

There will be no BOCC Public Health update on December 28th. They are in recess and will return January 4, 2021.

Submit your Public Health questions to Dr. Tom Locke by emailing [email protected].

Through Science to Health’s conversation between Lynn Sorensen, RN and Chris Bricker, KPTZ host included a select reiteration of Jefferson County’s Health Officer, Dr Tom Locke’s COVID-19 update to the BOCC on December 7, 2020, along with current COVID-19 vaccines soon to be available in the US. Lynn stressed that the vaccine roll out will be in stages starting with the frontline healthcare workers, first responders, and nursing home residents and their caregivers. Also that the vaccine will not take the place of masks or other hygiene measures until at least 70% of the US population is vaccinated.