It was like a straight-A student suddenly receiving a failing grade when at this week’s public health briefing before the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners, Public Health Officer after Hospitalist after Chief Medical Officer told the same alarming story: the north Olympic Peninsula, which throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has slipped by with minimal damage, has seen its short-staffed health care system overwhelmed by a storm surge of mostly unvaccinated coronavirus victims arriving at its emergency room’s doors, leaving little or no space for patients with other disorders. This week on the Compass we bring you excerpts from that wrenching meeting.
