Coronavirus updates: State passes 242k cases; only fraction of vaccine used
Updated at 9:00 a.m.
The Washington state Department of Health reported 1,526 new cases of COVID-19 and 51 deaths Wednesday.
Pierce County reported 222 cases Wednesday and six new deaths. Pierce County has a total of 294 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Wednesday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 242,330 cases and 3,420 deaths. The case total includes 9,337 cases listed as probable. Those numbers are up from 240,804 cases and 3,369 deaths on Tuesday. DOH revises previous case and death counts daily.
Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.
As of Dec. 11, the date with the most recent complete data, 114 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.
Preliminary reports indicate average daily hospital admissions were 99 in late-December.
About 12.4% (1,088) of all staffed adult acute care hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients Wednesday. In the state’s intensive care units, 19.2% (235) of staffed adult beds were occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.
Gov. Inslee extends COVID-19 restrictions for one week
Updated at 9 a.m.
Gov. Jay Inslee has extended for one week the statewide restrictions he imposed Nov. 15, part of his “Stay Safe–Stay Healthy” proclamation.
The statewide restrictions would have expired Monday, Jan. 4, but now will expire on Jan. 11. No changes were made in the proclamation aside from the expiration date.
“Our consistent mission has been keeping Washingtonians safe and ensuring health care system and hospital capacity,” Inslee said in a news release from his office. The governor did not convene a news conference to announce the extension.
“We understand the profound impact COVID is having on our healthcare system, families and businesses, but I am heartened by the number of Washingtonians who continue to do the right thing. If we continue distancing from others, wearing facial coverings and avoiding social gatherings, we will make it to the other side of this pandemic together.”
The news release says an updated reopening plan is being developed and will be released next week — the plan will “provide a pathway for businesses and workers impacted by this order to reopen safely,” it reads.
Inslee announced the current restrictions, which eliminated indoor service at restaurants and bars, closed indoor activity at gyms, and limited retail store occupancy, in an effort to curb a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in mid-November. He announced a three-week extension Dec. 8.
The governor warned at the time that the extension could become shorter or longer, if the COVID-19 situation improved or deteriorated. Health officials have recently said spread is slowing in Washington state, but that the situation is tenuous and still far from the state of the pandemic last seen in summer and fall.
Indoor social gatherings with people outside one’s household are also prohibited under the extended restrictions, and outdoor gatherings should include five or fewer people from outside the household. However, people can gather inside if they all quarantine for 14 days before or seven days with a negative test no more than two days before they gather.
Only a fraction of vaccine has been used in Washington
Updated at 9 a.m.
Data from the Washington state Department of Health shows only a fraction of the more than 356,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine delivered here have been used.
The Seattle Times reports that less than 20% of the distribution — 59,491 doses — had been administered as of Wednesday morning.
The department’s immunization data reporting lags by about three days.
The health department estimates that about 500,000 people qualify for vaccination in the top priority group, named 1A, which includes high-risk workers in health care, first responders and residents of long-term care facilities.
To speed the pace of vaccination in some areas, the health department announced Wednesday that it was expanding the definition of the 1A category to allow extra vaccine to be distributed to health-care workers who are not on the front lines.
“We need to deliver vaccine as quickly as possible, and we have to get it to the right people as quickly as possible,” said Dr. Umair Shah, the state’s new health secretary. The new guidance benefits rural health-care organizations that were able to quickly administer the vaccine to high-risk staffers but still have some doses remaining.
Concern has grown nationally about the pace of vaccination. For all the money the federal government spent on vaccine development and distribution, investments in local and state public-health departments have lagged.
Washington state officials agreed that the pace of vaccination should improve over time.
“We don’t have a predictable delivery schedule from the CDC,” said Michele Roberts, the state Department of Health’s acting assistant secretary, speaking of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of last week’s Moderna shipment landed on the holiday weekend, Roberts said, which slowed administration.
“Logistics and timing — those are all things we’ll smooth out after the New Year,” Roberts said, adding that it took a tremendous amount of planning for local agencies and hospitals.
The health department this week expects to receive 57,500 more doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine and 44,500 doses from Moderna.
‘It should be better.’ Officials say numerous factors slowed vaccine rollout
Updated at 9 a.m.
The top officials in charge of distributing the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday acknowledged that the number of doses administered so far by the states has been lower than expected but said they expect a quick increase.
Army Gen. Gustave Perna, who is leading the Trump administration’s logistics and distribution effort for Operation Warp Speed, said there had been “numerous factors” behind the lag in doses being administered compared to the amount of vaccine that has been distributed to the states.
“There’s two holidays, there’s been three major snowstorms. There is everybody working through how to do the notification, how to make sure we are administering it the right way, how to ensure that it stays in accordance with the cold chain,” Perna said.
As of Wednesday, there were just over 2 million doses administered of the 14 million initial doses that have been shipped to states, Perna and Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser on the government’s vaccine rollout, told reporters at a briefing.
“That number is lower than what we had hoped for,” Slaoui said. “We know it should be better, and we are working hard to make it better.”
Over the past two weeks states have reported challenges in being able to get reliable data from the federal government on how many doses they would be receiving, making it more difficult for them to schedule shots for their priority residents.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed the states for the delays, tweeting that “the Federal Government has distributed the vaccines to the states. Now it is up to the states to administer. Get moving!”
