WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. – Local health providers and officials continue to urge everyone who can to get vaccinated during what they say is definitely a fifth wave of COVID-19 illnesses.
Whatcom County Health Department director Erika Lautenbach and PeaceHealth’s Regional Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sudakar Karlapudi gave an update on Friday.
Dr. Karlapudi says the delta variant is now the exclusive cause of illness locally and he explained why it’s so much more infectious.
“The number of viral particles shed by someone infected with delta is about a thousand times more than the number expelled by someone who had the original virus about 12 months ago,” says Karlapudi.
Lautenbach says COVID isn’t just affecting families.
“At this p0int we have 58 businesses that are impacted and over half of those have what we define as outbreaks,” says Lautenbach. “The whole range, from very large businesses to very small businesses.”
They say there has been an increase in breakthrough cases in people who’ve been vaccinated, but they’re a small percentage and those people rarely develop serious symptoms.
They both fully support vaccination and masking requirements recently announced by Governor Inslee.