Coronavirus updates: State passes 175k cases
Updated at 10:50 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Saturday reported 1,503 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. The department is no longer reporting deaths on weekends.
Pierce County reported 177 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday. Pierce County had a total of 247 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Saturday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 175,793 cases and 2,925 deaths, up from 174,290 cases on Friday.
King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 47,032 cases and 914 deaths. Yakima County has 14,175 cases and 313 deaths. Pierce is second in cases with 18,365.
All counties in Washington have cases.
Two COVID vaccines could be authorized this month. Can we choose which one we get?
Updated at 10:50 a.m.
The U.S. is potentially weeks away from having not one, but two COVID-19 vaccines administered in the arms of at least 20 million people by the end of the month — with more candidates on the horizon.
But the availability of multiple vaccines doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be able to pick for yourself — as staggered roll outs, various storage requirements and other unknowns will likely complicate the process.
Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, along with Moderna, are in line for U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization on Dec. 10 and Dec. 17, respectively. If given the green light, Pfizer’s vaccine will be the first to be delivered to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, eight territories and five major cities, including New York and Chicago.
First deliveries of the much-awaited vaccine will be “within 24 hours” after the FDA’s decision, which most top health officials say will be in favor of authorization, according to Chief Operating Officer of Operation Warp Speed General Gustave Perna.
And one week later, Moderna’s vaccine will likely be authorized and recommended for use.
“It’s complicated,” a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson told McClatchy News during a telephone interview.
“In the beginning, if you are a health care professional and at the end of December your facility has a vaccine, you probably won’t have a choice although your facility might have both” the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna options, the CDC spokesperson said.
That’s because vaccine supplies will be extremely limited during initial roll outs.
“A 35-year-old who works at a bank will not be recommended to get a vaccine right now,” the CDC spokesperson said. “But if you are a 35-year-old nurse practitioner, you are going to be recommended to be vaccinated and you probably won’t necessarily have a choice.”
The agency announced Tuesday that health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities should be first in line to get the vaccine; next, essential workers such as teachers, firefighters and corrections officers; then, adults with high-risk medical conditions and those over 65.
Only after these groups get their shots will vaccine supplies be ready for the general population sometime in spring, officials say. And by that point, there will likely be more than two authorized vaccines on the market.
AstraZeneca and partner University of Oxford, and the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson both have vaccine candidates in phase 3 clinical trials, the last step before submitting data to the FDA for review.
How phones can alert you to COVID-19 exposure
Updated at 10:50 a.m.
More than 8.1 million people in the U.S. have turned their iPhones and Android devices into pandemic contact-tracing tools, but it hasn’t been of much use when their neighbors, classmates and coworkers aren’t on the same system.
Apple and Google co-created “exposure notification” technology to alert phone users if they spent time near someone who tests positive for the coronavirus, so they know to get tested, too.
It’s built with tight privacy restrictions to maintain users’ anonymity, but the tech companies have left it to each state’s public health authority to decide whether to use it. So far, 16 U.S. states, plus Guam and Washington, D.C., and more than 30 countries have made the exposure notification system available to their residents.
The technology relies on Bluetooth short-range radio signals to detect when two phones are in close proximity for long enough for someone to likely transmit the virus. Most states measure that close contact as within 6 feet for at least 15 minutes in a day.
Those wireless encounters — the kind that might happen between strangers on a train or in a crowded store — are randomly generated into keys and temporarily logged in a way that doesn’t reveal a person’s identity or geographic location.
When one person tests positive for the virus, and state health workers verify the diagnosis, others who recently spent time near the infected person get an automatic alert. That also comes with advice from your state health agency about how to get tested and avoid spreading the disease.
In Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and Washington, as well as Washington, D.C., iPhone users don’t have to download an app, but will have to adjust their phone settings to consent to the tracking. Android users in those places must download an app that Google has automatically generated for the region’s public health agency.
In another 13 places, public health agencies have custom-built exposure notification apps that can be found in the Apple and Google Play app stores. Those places are Alabama, Delaware, Guam, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wyoming.
Four other states have a limited pilot program: Arizona, California, Hawaii and Oregon.
This story was originally published December 6, 2020 at 10:59 AM.
