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Skagit County Public Health reported 119 new coronavirus cases Friday and a total of 305 new cases Aug. 9-13 on its website. The state Department of Health reports 285 newly diagnosed cases per 100,000 county residents for the two weeks through Aug. 8. The county titled an Aug. 11 news release “Case Counts/Hospitalizations Continuing to Increase in Skagit County.”

The previous one week high was 266 new infections per 100,000 county residents Jan 8-14, at the end of the Christmas holidays.

Monday 68 new COVID-19 cases were reported, bringing August’s total to 487 new infections, not per 100,000 residents.

Thirty people have been hospitalized Aug. 1-16, with 17 new hospitalizations, Aug. 9-16. At least one new person has been hospitalized daily and six were over the Aug. 1 weekend.

Dr. Howard Leibrand told the Weekly News Sunday that “We are going over 300 coronavirus cases per 100,000 in a two week period. The trajectory right now is way steeper than it was last fall.” Skagit County is three weeks into this surge, he said, with the “number of cases reported every day last week higher than any time than during the big surge. That makes it more of a problem.”

He did not pinpoint county clusters of infections, noting the “dynamics of each area of the county are not that much different. People in the rural areas work in the cities; the distribution of disease tends to even out over the whole county.”

There are three outbreaks in nursing homes now, mostly vaccinated elders, he said, with staff the source of the disease.

Leibrand noted hospitals statewide are stressed by a “trifecta. We are seeing a marked shortage of staffing of hospitals and there is a transition away from that career.” The delta variant has hospitalized more younger people, he said and the hot weather and wildfire smoke has sent people to hospitals. “The lack of ability to meet needs is not the hospitals fault,” he said.

Leibrand last week signed the joint statement from local health officers recommending all residents wear facial coverings when in indoor public settings where the vaccination status of others is unknown.

Students in all school districts will be required to wear masks, a state rule, he said.

“We are pleading with Skagitonians to get vaccinated now” Jennifer Johnson, Skagit County Public Health director said Aug. 5. “Getting vaccinated will give our community a chance to breathe again. It will keep our hospitals operating the way they need to be during cold and flu season. It will ensure the safety of our children as they go back to school in the fall. If there was ever a time to get vaccinated, it is absolutely right now.”

A total of 156,507 vaccine doses have been administered in Skagit County through Aug. 10, with 66.3% of all Skagitonians 12 years and older partially vaccinated against COVID-19.

For a list of vaccine providers: vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov/ or call Public Health at (360) 416-1500.