The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Wahkiakum County Health and Human Services (WHHS) has received a positive test result notification for a 13th covid-19 case in a Wahkiakum County resident.

The individual is in self-quarantine and is symptomatic," Chris Bischoff, director of Wahkiakum County Health and Human Services (WHHS), said in Monday news release. "We are working to identify anyone who may have an exposure risk because of contact with the person. Those people with close contact will be notified by WHHS staff.

The person is in self-quarantine. There is no known connection to the Wahkiakum School District or St. James Family Center, Bischoff said, but there is a connection to the Naselle/Grays River Valley School District. Pacific County is working with Naselle schools to coordinate covid response.

Bischoff said the Washington Department of Health is incorrectly reporting only 11 cases in Wahkiakum at this time. WHHS working to correct this information.

"We have expected this; we have planned for this, Bischoff said. "We continue to coordinate with partner agencies to monitor for the disease in the county. WHHS works every day to identify, track, and follow up on cases of potential disease exposure to protect people’s health. The COVID-19 virus is new, but state, federal, and WHHS public health response is not.

The current risk of COVID-19 in Washington is still high. Public health is identifying 100s more positive cases of the disease in the state every day.

"We know that the disease is spreading in Washington from person to person, but we have little evidence of that in Wahkiakum." Bischoff said.