Coronavirus Update January 13, 2021

 THE NUMBERS FOR JANUARY 13, 2021

Another 2,892 coronavirus cases and 49 deaths have been reported in Washington, bringing the total number of diagnoses to 269,201, including 3,838 deaths, according to the state Department of Health.  At least 16,080 people have been hospitalized in the state due to the virus; the DOH says data on hospitalizations are incomplete today due to an interruption in the data reporting processes. For the past few weeks, we’ve been hovering between 80% and 87% ICU Capacity and 10%-17% for positivity rates. Nationally in the U.S., with more than 22 million cases reported to date, including more than 375,000 deaths. We broke yet another daily death record in the USA of 4,406 American lives.

More aggressive strains of the virus, like the ones from the UK and South Africa, are being discovered across the country which is going to make things like travel, eating out, and gathering in groups even more dangerous. 

NEW FEDERAL RECOMMENDATIONS ON VACCINE ROLLOUT

Today the federal government caught state and local governments off guard by holding a press release with new COVID-19 vaccination recommendations. Mike Faulk, an Inslee spokesperson, said the governor’s office learned of the federal changes through news reports Tuesday morning but by afternoon, still had not received anything in writing from the government about the new eligibility policy. 

In another statement, he said that the Governor’s office would take it under advisement. Washington is currently working through the end of the A2 phase which includes all high risk first responders and workers in a healthcare setting. They are also moving into phase B1 which includes all people 70 and older as well as people 50 years and older who live in multigenerational households. 

Phase B2 is set to begin in February which includes high-risk critical workers 50 years and older who work in a certain congregate setting which includes agriculture, food processing, k-12 teachers and staff, child care, corrections, prisons, jails and detention centers, public transit, fire and law enforcement. Phase B3 is set to begin in March and includes people 16 and older with two or more comorbidities or underlying conditions. April will be the beginning of B4 which will vaccinate high-risk critical workers under 50 who work in the B2 settings. They have not released information about phases after B4. With this current roll out the general public won’t see an opportunity to get a vaccine until the summer. 

Currently, teachers are advocating for all school employees to be moved up to the B2 phase otherwise most staff will not get a vaccine until after the school year is out and will create more delays in kids getting back to school. 

WASHINGTON STATE & FEDERAL SAFETY MEASURES

With no vaccine in sight for most people, we are going to continue to see local and federal safety measures in place. In a press conference recently Governor Inslee announced his new path forward for reopening called his “Healthy Washington Roadmap to Recovery”. As of yesterday, we are now in phase 1. 

So regions in phase 1, which is currently all of the regions, can not gather indoors with people who are not in your household, can gather outdoors with up to 10 people with a limit of 2 households. Worship services may resume with a 25% capacity. Retail stores can have a maximum of 25% capacity with curbside pick up encouraged. Offices are also encouraged to work remotely and if they do begin in-office workdays they are also set to a 25% capacity. 

Eating and drinking established will continue to only be allowed outdoor dining with groups up to 6 and take away. Weddings and funerals are limited to 30 people if they are outdoor. Low-risk sports are allowed with up to 5 people and appointment-based fitness can occur with a maximum of 25% capacity. Private rentals of indoor entertainment establishments are allowed for individual households up to 6 people. Outdoor is allowed for groups of 10 with a limit of 2 households. 

I think the biggest difference we see in this plan compared to previous plans is that with Health Washington moves through phases in regions rather than counties. These 8 regions are built along with health systems and resources.

Federally we haven’t seen really any mandated safety measures outside of travel lockdowns early on and most recently from the UK and South Africa but starting January 26, 2021, all international travelers will now be required to provide a negative coronavirus test. 

UW TESTING WASTEWATER FOR CORONAVIRUS 

As Reverend walden says, dont leave people in an effected state so I wanted to highlight a positive story I found. The University of Washington has begun a program to test our wastewater to detect covid-19. 

This early detection will allow local officials to catch COVID-19 hotspots faster. Being able to detect the virus in the waste will notify officials they need to conduct mass testing, following it up with aggressive contact tracing, essentially cutting the spread off at the knees. This system was actually credited recently with preventing a major outbreak in a Las Cruces Juvenile jail last night.