Grant Co. Reports First Monkeypox Case

Grant County has its first confirmed case of monkeypox.

The Grant County Health District reports the individual who contracted the virus is currently in quarantine at home.

The health district is currently working to identify anyone who may have had close enough contact with the infected person to potentially spread the illness.

Monkeypox is not an airborne pathogen and generally requires some degree of physical contact to be transmitted.

As of Wednesday, there were 506 confirmed cases of monkeypox in Washington, including 14 requiring hospitalization.

The Grant County infection comes several weeks after neighboring Kittitas County reported its first case of the virus.

There have yet to be any cases of the illness in Chelan, Douglas, or Okanogan Counties.