King County opened a mass vaccination site at the ShoWare Center in Kent in February (King County)
Although COVID-19 cases have continued to decline since the holiday, health officials in King County are warning that the appearance of a variant and indifferent behavior can quickly take us back.
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Dr. Jeff Duchin of Public Health – Seattle & King County says the county has seen a drop in the number of cases in recent weeks, but the seven-day rate is still over 200 per 100,000. This is seven times the amount in June and three to four times the amount we saw in September.
“Approximately two people died each day in the past week, this decreased from 8-9 a day during December,” said Duchin.
He stressed that areas in South King County are experiencing high case rates compared to other areas in the county. Kent, Auburn, Federal Way, followed by Burien, Tukwila and Sea-Tac have approximately three times the case rate for downtown Seattle. Hospitalization and mortality rates are also three to four times higher in these areas.
Fewer people are looking for tests since the holiday, 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 that it doubles every week. He said that small numbers of cases of the variant can go undetected for some time, but the numbers can increase very quickly.
“I feel like we’re in the middle of a hurricane and I want to remind everyone that we should expect the variant to spread around here,” said Duchin. “And it will make our outbreak much more difficult to control.”
He said we need to remember that as we increase our activities, the chance of the virus spreading increases. He recommended using the same strategies we have heard: masking, washing hands, spreading and increasing ventilation indoors. But we have to improve our consistency.
“The end result is that these variants represent a game changer,” said Duchin. “They are faster and more dangerous.”
Weekend notice
Duchin congratulated the Seattle Seahawks for being the NFL team not to report any positive cases of COVID before warning NFL fans to be careful this weekend while watching the Super Bowl.
“Ventilation is important,” said Duchin. “The Super Bowl’s best advice is, please don’t meet indoors with non-household members or everyone is at risk of ending up on the COVID-19 injured list. If you watch with other people, be sure to open the windows, increase ventilation and wear masks. Eat outdoors. The outside is always safer than the inside. And remember, just eating and talking puts the virus in the air … Up to half of the COVID-19 infection spreads to people who look and feel good. They don’t know they have COVID-19 and they don’t seem to have symptoms ”.
Duchin said that if ventilation is poor, the virus can accumulate in the room like cigarette smoke. Singing, talking and shouting can add even more viruses to the room.
“Try to limit the applause, especially for Tampa Bay,” said Duchin.
Vaccine statistics
Duchin said the vaccine distribution in King County remains stable, but it is not enough. Washington state is receiving only less than a third of what health care providers are requesting. He received only 107.00 first doses this week and there is an increase in demand for second doses.
For one perspective, Duchin explained that this week, King County received just over 43,000 doses and half of them were allocated to the first doses. At the end of January, 300 health professionals were enrolled in vaccination programs. This week, only 25% of those providers received a dose distribution.
King County administered about 300,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by Thursday, according to Duchin. Of these, 232,000 people (13% of the King County population) received the first dose and 60,000 people were fully vaccinated with both doses. Among them, about two-thirds of eligible county health workers in Phase 1A received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Duchin said he administered at least one dose of the vaccine to almost 40% of the population of King County who is 75 or older, adding that this age group has 200 to 600 times the risk of death compared to 18-29 years. They vaccinated more than a third of people aged 65 to 74 with at least one dose. This age group is at least 90 times more at risk of death than the 18 to 29 age group.
As for the race and ethnicity division, Duchin said that those who received a dose of the COVID vaccine are 10% who identify themselves as white, 8% who identify themselves as Asians, 5% who identify themselves as black and 4% who identify themselves as Hispanics.
“The impact of this outbreak is disproportionately strong for people of color,” said Duchin.
Kind County updates a demographic panel to study the breach.
Consultations at the two mass vaccination sites the county opened on February 1 in Kent and Auburn are scheduled until February, according to Duchin. The municipality also maintains eight mobile units to vaccinate high-risk populations, in partnership with regional firefighters. They hope to get two more mobile units soon.
Watch Dr. Duchin’s latest update on COVID-19 in King County here.