WA health officials wary of fourth COVID wave as state races to distribute vaccines
State and local health officials on Thursday expressed concern that while vaccine efforts are rolling along, the number of new cases of COVID-19 have plateaued in recent weeks, and in some areas, including Western Washington, cases are rising again.
Numbers involving more contagious variants of the virus also are going up, including the first reported case of one of the more rare ones: P1, detected in King County.
“We’re at a higher rate post third wave, we’re starting to see these variants, including the rarer one, the P1, and I’m really concerned about where this sets us up for the future,” said Dr. Scott Lindquist, state epidemiologist for Communicable Diseases with the state Department of Health.
Health officials said a recent uptick in Western Washington is largely in cases between the ages 20-39 — a precursor, they noted, to previous waves.
“This, as you know, is oftentimes a early warning sign of larger surges in the general population,” state Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah said at Thursday’s news briefing.
One bright spot, Shah noted, is that hospitalizations and deaths have been on the decline since late February,
VACCINES
As for vaccinations, Shah noted that statewide, “We’ve actually had almost 60% of people that are 65 years of age or older, they’ve gotten at least one dose. And we’ve gotten almost 33%, almost a third of our seniors above age 65 are fully vaccinated, which is just incredible.”
He added that more than 18 percent of the state’s population has received at least one vaccine dose, and more than 10 percent are now fully vaccinated.
Supplies of the three available vaccines, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson offer a mixed picture for the immediate future in the state.
According to Michele Roberts, acting assistant secretary for state DOH, pharmacies participating in the federal retail pharmacy program this week would receive 72,000 doses to help vaccinate teachers, school staff and childcare workers now prioritized in the state’s rollout.
“On top of this,” she said, “Washington’s three-week allocation forecast from the federal government continues to increase. Next week, we expect to get about 325,000 doses from the federal government in our state allocation.”
The allocation is a combination of Moderna and Pfizer and is below the more than 410,000 doses requested weekly.
She added, “We do not know when we’ll receive more Johnson & Johnson vaccine.” Roberts added the state expects to receive more Johnson & Johnson vaccine before the end of the month.
“When we have more shipments of J&J, which we’re expecting later, definitely by the end of the month, and kind of anxiously waiting, we’re on pins and needles from the federal government to see if we’ll get some more before then,” she said. “But that vaccine will be going across the state.”
The manufacturer is struggling to meet supply demands worldwide, and the U.S. this week ordered 100 million more doses, expected to be delivered later this year.
Dr. Anthony Chen, director of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, also participated in Thursday’s briefing. He noted that the continued shortage of vaccines was frustrating for those still waiting, with no shortage in Pierce County of those wanting the vaccine.
“Almost every day I’m hearing from people who are in the next stages saying, ‘Can we get to the front of the line?’” Chen said.
He added that he knew one person who told him he drove to Enumclaw from Tacoma to get the vaccine.
“People shouldn’t have to go that far,” he added, noting that two events had been announced Thursday for this week in Pierce County, and the county had continued to offer mass vaccination clinics weekly.
From his perspective, supplies were improving.
“Encourage people to not give up,” he said.
COVID VARIANTS RISING IN THE STATE
Shah said that the state now has detected 99 cases of the B117 variant case (known as the UK strain), up from 70 cases last week. Additionally, one case of the P1 (Brazil) variant has been detected, as well as five cases of the B1351 (South Africa) variant.
It is unclear how effective the different vaccines will be in preventing the spread of these variants.
Lindquist told reporters Thursday the state was moving into a “new era of this pandemic.”
“I initially thought, you know, it’s going to be this gradual phase out and the virus goes away. It’s not unrolling that way ... there’s a flattening out of the curve,” he said.
Each baseline for each successive curve, he noted, has been higher than the last.
“This sets us up for a continued wave,” he noted. “So I’m very concerned about the possibility of a fourth wave, in addition to the new variants that Dr. Shah just presented to us. It’s very concerning there aren’t a lot of P1 variants in the United States. And for us to find one in Washington really shows us that it’s a concern, you know, globally.”
According to the CDC, as of March 9 there were only 15 reported cases nationwide of the P1 variant, 91 of the B1351 variant, and 3,283 cases of the B117 variant.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 1:15 PM.
