The first COVID-19 death in over a month was confirmed in Washington County Friday.

The state dashboard shows Washington County at 51 deaths, and for surrounding counties Johnson is at 84, Louisa is at 49, Henry is at 37, Jefferson is at 35, Keokuk is at 31, and Iowa is at 24. Washington County has seen a seven-day average positive test rate of 3% or below in the last two weeks, while Iowa’s seven day average has been below 4%.

Washington County Public Health Administrator Danielle Pettit-Majewski says we are moving in the right direction as far as hospitalizations and cases decreasing, but she does worry about what may happen as mask and gathering restrictions have been loosened, “I do have concerns about potentially seeing another spike, but I hope that I’m wrong and I hope that people just continue to do the good handwashing and staying home when they’re sick. I think those were all lessons that we found were effective, the masking when you’re ill, even if it’s just a cold, people didn’t see the flu numbers. I just think we’ve learned something about how to keep others healthy and I think that that’s been a benefit, absolutely.”

A priority for public health this summer is getting 12-15 year olds vaccinated before the fall, and Washington County Hospital and Clinics is hosting a Pfizer vaccine clinic for those 12 years and older from 2-6 p.m. Wednesday, May 26th in their administrative building. Schedule an appointment by clicking here and find other vaccine providers visit here.