Mask Up Indoors: Fast Rise in COVID in Kitsap and Bainbridge
The Kitsap Public Health District has been reporting a precipitous climb in COVID infections since the end of July. Between July 20 and July 26, the rate of infection per 100,000 residents leaped more than 60 points, from 41.1 to 110.9, prompting health officials to recommend wearing masks indoors in public spaces.South Kitsap is seeing the worst of the increase, with 136.1 cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days, for a cumulative total since the start of the pandemic of more than 3,000 cases. Central Kitsap is not doing much better, with 118.9 infections per 100,000 residents, or 2,244 total overall. Between July 20 and July 26, North Kitsap saw an increase in infection rate from 47.4 to 106.6 per 100,000, to 1,482 total overall.After a brief drop to 40.8 after July 26, Bainbridge Island was back up on August 4 to 65.3 cases per 100,000. The additional 13 recently reported infections brings the total number on Bainbridge to 366. The new high rate is still lower than it was at the beginning and end of January, but it exceeds the numbers from the middle of January, a situation made more alarming by the fact that we are in the summer months when people are spending less time indoors. The breakdown of recent cases on Bainbridge, which has a population of about 26,000, is as follows:
- August 3: 4
- August 4: 4
- August 5: 6
- August 6: 2
- August 7: 3
- August 8: 1
The total number of cases countywide is 9,830. Of those, 181 are new.In response to the emergence of the Delta variant of COVID, the public health officers of eight eastern Washington counties—King, Pierce, Snohomish, Kitsap, Clallam, Jefferson, San Juan, and Grays Harbor—issued a statement July 26 recommending that you mask up in "indoor public settings where the vaccination status of those around you is unknown." This recommendation applies to all people, whether they're vaccinated or not.You can track the numbers here.
