Delta variant has overtaken others in WA as Pierce County struggles with vaccine rate
As Pierce County now rides its fifth wave of COVID-19, officials say more people need to get vaccinated to help stem the tide of a potential onslaught of hospitalizations.
Only 46.6 percent of Pierce County residents are fully vaccinated, with the seven-day average of about 1,100 doses administered, down from a peak of more than 6,000 doses in early April.
The slowdown comes amid news that the Delta variant is more contagious than previously known.
Details of a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s internal report led to this week’s revised national mask guidelines. Pierce County and seven other counties already adopted similar recommendations earlier in the week.
The CDC noted that the Delta variant of COVID-19 is as contagious as chickenpox and was more transmissable than the common cold, among other illnesses, according to The Washington Post, which was the first to obtain the report.
Locally, the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department noted, “In a July 21 report, we found two census tracts had 15-20 percent or more positive tests between June 27 and July 17. Between June 13 and July 3 there had been zero tracts at that rate. And 14 census tracts had 10-15 percent positive rate when there had been one tract with that rate.”
It added: “Most of these census tracts are in areas of low vaccination rates.”
The health department did not identify the exact locations, but vaccination rates of less than 40 percent are seen in pockets around Buckley, Wilkeson and Carbonado as well as an area near Lakewood and south of Auburn near the King County line. Areas hitting the 40-50 percent vaccination range in the county are common; those above 60 percent remain islands scattered throughout the county.
TPCHD noted, “Data show the Delta variant likely makes up most of the cases in the county and the state.”
In the state’s report from July 28, the Delta variant made up 75.9 percent of the cases sequenced from June 27-July 10.
“People who’ve had COVID-19 infection before are only partially protected from the wild type, or the original form, of COVID-19,” Dr. Mike Myint of MultiCare said in a Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department blog post this week.
Myint works as MultiCare’s Connected Care’s physician executive, population health, quality & risk adjustment. The health department has been tapping area doctors to help persuade unvaccinated residents to get a COVID shot.
The unvaccinated, he warned, “are not well-protected from some of the newer variants that are much more infectious and potentially can make you more sick.”
According to the health department, “Our records suggest less than 2 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Pierce County were fully vaccinated prior to infection.”
This week, the state Department of Health reported updated numbers of the toll the pandemic has taken between February and June 2021:
▪ 97.4 percent of COVID-19 cases were in those not fully vaccinated.
▪ 96 percent of hospitalizations among COVID-19 cases were in those not fully vaccinated.
▪ 94.3 percent of deaths related to COVID-19 were in those not fully vaccinated.
Breakthrough cases
A growing concern is the number of breakthrough cases reported amid the rise of the Delta variant.
From Jan. 17 to July 24, the state has recorded 4,241 breakthrough cases, cases of COVID-19 illness reported among the fully vaccinated.
According to the state, of the cases with data available:
▪ 86 percent reported symptoms.
▪ 8 percent were hospitalized.
▪ 52 people died of COVID-related illness.
More than 1,000 of the breakthrough cases (28 percent, the largest percentage) were among those ages 35-49, with the next largest percentage among those 50-64, then 20-34.
The ones with the least breakthrough cases were those younger than 19 and age 80 or above.
Of the 52 who died, 37 had one ore more underlying conditions and 27 were associated with a long-term care facility. Information was not available for all cases.
The Alpha and Delta variants were seen among the highest percentages of breakthrough cases among those sequenced in the state, at 34 percent and 26 percent, respectively.
