Grays Harbor Public Health COVID-19 response update
Grays Harbor County Public Health & Social Services Department
Case updates
Grays Harbor County has 6 confirmed case of COVID-19.
· March 2020: 2 Cases
· April 2020: 4 Case
Response efforts
Recent accomplishments
Grays Harbor Public Health has completed disease investigations for the three recently identified cases. Personal information gathered during this process is legally protected and will not be disclosed by Grays Harbor Public Health.
Close contacts of the patients are being monitored for symptoms. If you were a known close contact of one of the patient’s, you would have been contacted by our disease investigators.
Cases are assigned to the county where the patient resides. One of the recently identified cases, while a Grays Harbor County resident, has not been in the County.
Current priorities
The Washington State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are now recommending that all residents wear cloth face coverings in public. However, people should not use a facemask meant for a healthcare worker, such as an N95 or surgical mask. These masks need to be reserved for healthcare workers who come into close contact with sick people all day. The rest of us do not need this level of protection.
“N95 masks protect you,” said Dr. John Bausher, Grays Harbor County Health Officer. “Cloth masks help protect others. Please wear a cloth mask and remember to wash it often.”
Some of us will get COVID-19 and not have any symptoms at all or might be contagious before we get symptoms. If you decide to wear a cloth face covering, you are doing it to protect others from a virus you do not know whether you might carry. Wearing a cloth face covering in public places is an act of compassion.
Residents should wear a cloth face cover when they have to go out in public, for example to the grocery store or to pick up other necessities, and cannot maintain 6 feet of physical distance from others. This recommendation is not a substitute for existing guidance to maintain 6-feet of physical distance from non-household members and performing frequent hand hygiene with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Wearing cloth face coverings will not prevent spread of COVID-19 without these other protective measures. This is not a mandate that you must wear a face covering. It is considered an additional layer of protection.
These masks can be constructed with common household fabrics and are fairly simple to make. Dr. Jerome Adams, the U.S. Surgeon General shows you how in his video How to make Your own Face Covering.
Background
On March 17, 2020 Grays Harbor Public Health activated an incident management team to coordinate the local response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the direction of a policy group that includes local officials, medical and emergency response experts, and the Grays Harbor County Health Officer, the incident management team is using the best public health and medical science to control and mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.
What people should do
Grays Harbor County resident should do their part by following Governor Jay Inslee’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy order. Stay home unless you need to pursue an essential activity like shopping for groceries or going to a medical appointment.
If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough, difficulty breathing), seek medical attention.
If you have a regular healthcare provider, call your provider.
If you do not have a regular health care provider, you can call Grays Harbor Public Health’s COVID-19 call center at (360) 964-1850 and speak with a medical professional who can assess whether or not you meet criteria for testing. You can also call Grays Harbor Community Hospital’s primary care clinic for patients with respiratory symptoms at 1-866-537-2778.
Where to get information
The incident management team will be working to get information out as it becomes available.
Residents can call the Grays Harbor Public Health COVID-19 call center at (360) 964-1850 for information about COVID-19. The number will be staffed from 8:30am- 4:00pm Monday through Friday.
Local information and resources related to COVID-19 are also available on our website at www.healthygh.org/covid19.