King County opened a massive vaccination site at ShoWare Center in Kent, King County in February
While the number of COVID-19 cases has continued to decline since the holiday, health officials in King County are warning that the emergence of a variant and lethargic behavior could quickly turn us all backwards.
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Dr. Jeff Duchin of Public Health – Seattle & King County says the county has seen a drop in cases in recent weeks, but the seven-day rate is still over 200 per 100,000. That is seven times as much as in June and three to four times as much as in September.
“About two people died every day last week, down from 8-9 a day in December,” Duchin said.
He pointed out that areas in South King County have high rates of cases compared to other areas in the county. Kent, Auburn, Federal Way, followed by Burien, Tukwila and Sea-Tac have about three times as many cases as downtown Seattle. Hospital admissions and death rates are also three to four times higher in those areas.
Since the holidays, fewer people have been looking for tests, but Duchin says testing is an important tool in preventing the spread of COVID to others.
The variant
As for the variant, Duchin says studies from other countries suggest it doubles every week. He said small numbers of the variant may go unnoticed for a while, but the numbers can get big very quickly.
“I feel like we are in the eye of a hurricane and I want to remind everyone that we can expect the variant to become widespread here,” said Duchin. “And that it will make our outbreak much more difficult to control.”
He said we should remember that expanding our business increases the chances of the virus spreading. He recommended using the same strategies we’ve heard: mask off, wash your hands, spread out, and increase indoor ventilation. But we need to improve our consistency.
“The bottom line is, these variants represent a game changer,” said Duchin. “They are faster and more dangerous.”
Weekend warning
Duchin congratulated the Seattle Seahawks for being the NFL team for not reporting positive COVID cases before warning NFL fans to use caution this weekend while watching the Super Bowl.
“Ventilation is important,” said Duchin. “The best advice for the Super Bowl is, please don’t gather indoors with non-household members, or everyone could be at risk of ending up on the injured COVID-19 list. If you are watching with others, make sure to open windows and increase ventilation and wear masks. Eat out. Outside is always safer than inside. And remember, just eating and talking puts the virus in the air … Up to half of the COVID-19 infection spreads from people who look and feel good. They don’t know they have COVID-19 and they don’t seem to have any symptoms. “
Duchin said if the ventilation is poor, the virus can build up in the room like cigarette smoke. Singing, speaking loudly and shouting can add even more viruses to the room.
“Try to limit loud cheers, especially for Tampa Bay,” Duchin said.
Vaccine statistics
Duchin said vaccine allocation in King County remains stable, but it’s not enough. Washington State receives only less than a third of what health care providers demand. It received only 107.00 first doses this week and there is an increasing demand for second doses.
To clarify, Duchin explained that King County received just over 43,000 doses this week and half of those were assigned for first doses. At the end of January, 300 health care providers were enrolled in vaccine programs. This week, only 25% of those providers were assigned a dose.
King County has administered nearly 300,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine since Thursday, according to Duchin. Of these, 232,000 people (13% of the population of King County) received the first dose and 60,000 people were fully vaccinated with both doses. Of those, about two-thirds of the county’s eligible health professionals in Phase 1A have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Duchin said they have administered at least one dose of the vaccine to nearly 40% of the population of King County who is 75 years of age or older, adding that that age group is 200 to 600 times more likely to die compared to 18-29 year olds. . They vaccinated more than a third of those aged 65-74 with at least one dose. That age group is at least 90 times more likely to die than 18-29 year olds.
As for the race and ethnicity breakdown, Duchin said 10% of people who received a dose of COVID vaccine identify as White, 8% who identify as Asian, 5% who identify as Black, and 4% who identify as Spanish. .
“The impact of this outbreak is disproportionately severe for people of color,” said Duchin.
Kind County is updating a demographic dashboard to study the outbreak.
Appointments at the two massive vaccination sites that the county opened in Kent and Auburn on Feb. 1 have been booked through February, according to Duchin. The province also operates eight mobile units to vaccinate high-risk populations, in partnership with regional fire departments. They hope to get two more mobile units soon.
Check out the latest update from Dr. Duchin on COVID-19 in King County.