SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — Dave Somers, the executive for Snohomish County, announced Wednesday that he tested positive for COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated and having received his booster shot.
The positive test comes as the county and the entire state deals with a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the omicron variant.
“We’re once again breaking COVID records in Snohomish County. We’re really at our highest levels of the disease since the pandemic started two years ago,” Somers said during a Tuesday briefing with the Snohomish Health District.
However, with his recent positive test, Somers urged residents to not view the pandemic in numbers but to see it in the frustration and trauma the virus is causing real people.
“The human component needs to be forefront every day. That data doesn’t capture the kind of trauma that comes along with COVID potentially,” he said. “Now, my family has been impacted. I found out Monday I tested positive for COVID-19.”
Somers said the frightening part for him in catching the virus is that his wife is immunocompromised. He said his symptoms were mild and mostly gone by the time he got tested, adding that he is already recovering.
“We’ve just really got to double down and realize this is not about us as individuals. It’s about our neighbors, our families, our friends,” Somers said.
According to the latest data from the Washington State Department of Health, the county saw a record number of daily cases on Wednesday with 1,503 people testing positive for COVID-19.
Roughly 69% of the county’s total population has received at least one dose of the vaccine.