COVID-19 cases in Grays Harbor County continue to rise, with a spike of 34 new cases reported Monday by Grays Harbor Public Health.

There were 15 new cases reported Thursday and 16 Friday, which means 65 since last Thursday’s report. Public Health said Monday that no further information was available about the jump in numbers at that time.

The sharp increase in the past two weeks puts the county in a different risk category in terms of Gov. Jay Inslee’s return to school guidelines. Aberdeen announced Monday that the in-person classes it was planning for grades kindergarten through third, would now be offered as distance-learning classes.

The total cases since February stands at 218, with five deaths reported. To date, 90 of the county’s total is attributed to August – with a week left in the month, August eclipsed July’s total of 68.

There were mass testings done in Westport Friday at the Alaskan Motel and Washington Crab.

Public Health information released Monday lists 86 active cases – those still under isolation or quarantine. There are 156 active contact investigations underway, and have been 518 total contact investigations since the pandemic began.

According to numbers released Friday, the majority of cases have been reported in the Aberdeen zip code — 58 as of that day, before the new cases reported Monday. The Hoquiam zip code has had 58 cases. East County zip codes — Montesano, Elma and McCleary — stood at 17 cases each Friday. The Ocean Shores zip code had 14, Westport nine.

Cases by sex are about even, 97 among males and 102 among females, with 20 listed as “unknown.” Cases in the 20-39-year-old age range as of Monday stood at 94, and cases in the 40-50-year-old range are at 64, making up 158 of the now 218 reported cases. State information updated Saturday shows 18 hospitalizations in the county.