Coronavirus updates: State passes 303k cases
Updated at 9:30 a.m.
The Washington state Department of Health reported 1,352 new cases of COVID-19 and 19 deaths Tuesday.
Pierce County reported 224 cases Tuesday and four new deaths. Pierce County has a total of 386 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Tuesday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 303,482 cases and 4,167 deaths. Those numbers are up from 301,194 cases and 4,148 deaths Monday. The case total includes 13,314 cases listed as probable. 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 Jan. 7, the date with the most recent complete data, 97 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.
Preliminary reports indicate average daily hospital admissions were 97 in mid-January.
Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,212), approximately 78.5% (951) were occupied by patients Tuesday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 14.3% (173) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.
Biden plans more weekly COVID-19 vaccines to states, greater notice on what’s coming
Updated at 9:30 a.m.
President Joe Biden plans to increase weekly shipments of COVID-19 vaccine doses to states from 8.6 million doses to a minimum of 10 million and will give state and local officials a greater heads up on what deliveries are coming their way, senior Biden administration officials said Tuesday.
The administration is also working to secure an additional 200 million doses – 100 million of each of the two vaccines currently authorized for use, produced by Pfizer and Moderna – that can be delivered by the summer.
The Biden administration made the announcements after consulting with governors around the country on what they need most in distributing coronavirus vaccines. Jeff Zients, the head of the president’s COVID-19 response team, led a call with governors earlier Thursday to outline their plans.
“The vaccines are distributed to states based on population,” Biden said, announcing the new policies at a White House event. “So this is going to allow millions of Americans to get vaccinated sooner than previously anticipated.”
One common concern expressed by governors is not knowing until last minute what shipments are coming in.
Biden said it was “unacceptable” that governors would have to “guess” a week in advance what shipments were coming.
“This is something we’ve heard over and over again from both Democrats and Republicans, state and local leaders, that they need to know what they have to plan on,” Biden said. “They need to know what the order is going to be.”
The president’s goal is to provide states “with a reliable three-week supply look-ahead,” one administration official said.
Seattle approves extra ‘hazard pay’ for grocery workers
Updated at 9:30 a.m.
Seattle has joined other cities in approving extra pay for grocery store workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The City Council on Monday approved legislation requiring large groceries to pay an extra $4 an hour in hazard pay.
The Seattle Times reports the legislation passed 8-0, clearing a requirement that it receive a three-quarter super-majority in order to go into effect immediately. Mayor Jenny Durkan called the policy “a strong step forward in Seattle’s recovery.”
The new requirement applies to grocery companies with more than 500 employees worldwide and to stores larger than 10,000 square feet. It does not apply to convenience stores or farmers markets.
Covered businesses will have to pay their retail employees $4 an hour on top of the pay they currently receive as long as the city’s coronavirus civil emergency, first declared in early March of last year, remains in effect.
Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, the legislation’s lead sponsor, noted that the City Council has been meeting remotely since March, because of the pandemic, and that she often orders groceries online and picks them up outside the store. That’s not possible for grocery workers.
“They have been going in to work every single day and we appreciate them,” Mosqueda said.
U.K. coronavirus variant identified in 26 states, CDC director says
Updated at 9:30 a.m.
A highly contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in the United Kingdom is now in 26 states and has infected at least 308 people, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday.
Nearly two-thirds of those cases have been found in Florida and California, according to a public CDC database tracking cases.
“Viruses mutate, and we have always expected that variants would emerge, and we have been looking for them,” Walensky said, speaking during the first coronavirus response team briefing since President Joe Biden took office last week.
“The variants have been identified seem to spread more easily, they’re more transmissible, which could lead to increased numbers of cases and increased stress on our already-taxed health care system,” Walensky said.
In the same briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the latest evidence does not suggest that the U.K. variant, known as B.1.1.7, will affect the effectiveness of the two coronavirus vaccines currently available.
The variant has been found in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington, Texas, Georgia and Louisiana, among other states.
This story was originally published January 27, 2021 at 9:44 AM.
