State’s COVID-19 surge leads to new alerts about crowds, surgeries & the unvaccinated
State and local officials on Friday sounded the alarm on how the Delta variant of COVID-19 is rapidly overtaking the state’s efforts to vaccinate and slow the spread of the disease.
“As of July 30, one in 172 Washington residents was estimated to have an active COVID-19 infection,” the state Department of Health said in an update released Friday.
Some elective surgeries are now being canceled amid the surge at local hospitals, according to at least one Tacoma health system, and the state’s health secretary is recommending people avoid crowds in the short term, reminiscent of pre-vaccine days.
“We are extremely concerned by this increased spike in cases, driven by the Delta variant, spreading like wildfire among men, women, and children,” said Dr. Umair Shah, the state’s Secretary of Health. “Vaccination is the best tool we have in this pandemic, but we also recommend that individuals mask indoors, and avoid large, crowded settings, vaccinated or not.”
In addition to keeping gatherings small and outside, DOH in its Friday update also recommended avoiding any large outdoor gatherings such as concerts, fairs or festivals.
The update comes amid news that more than 160 COVID-19 cases were tied to the Watershed Music Festival at the Gorge Amphitheatre in central Washington, which attracted more than 20,000 attendees.
State DOH offered a breakdown Friday of the rise in cases in the past 30 days by county. Pierce and King counties were among 10 counties that have reported an increase between 300-599 percent. The others were Clallam, Stevens, Asotin, Whitman, Franklin, Spokane, Clark and Lewis.
Other counties:
▪ Pend Oreille, Douglas, Lincoln, Pacific, Chelan, Island have seen cases increase more than 600 percent, it noted.
▪ Adams, Thurston, Snohomish, Benton, Skamania, Whatcom, Skagit, Kitsap, Yakima, Cowlitz, Mason, Grant have seen cases increase between 100-299 percent.
▪ Only seven counties, Kittitas, Okanogan, Ferry, Klickitat, Walla Walla, Jefferson, Garfield, Grays Harbor have seen cases increase less than 100 percent.
Hospital strain
It noted that hospitals are feeling the strain statewide, with the vast majority of COVID-19 hospitalizations involving not fully vaccinated individuals — about 95 percent since February.
“COVID-19 related hospital admissions reached November 2020 levels as of Aug. 8 based on data reported by hospitals. COVID-19 admission rates are increasing in all 18+ age groups,” the state DOH said Friday.
Holly Harvey, media representative for Tacoma-based MultiCare, told The News Tribune in response to questions on Friday that the health system is “canceling some elective surgeries in the Puget Sound area to ensure we maintain adequate capacity to treat COVID 19 patients. We will continue to monitor patient volumes as we schedule surgeries.”
“Like other hospitals across the state, we’ve seen a significant increase in COVID-19 patients in recent weeks due to the highly contagious Delta variant,” she wrote via email. “We currently have space to serve the community and are using our modeling and patient projections learned over the course of this pandemic to rapidly scale our capacity to meet increased demand.”
About 98 percent of MultiCare’s hospitalized COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated, Harvey noted.
In a statement, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health told The News Tribune on Friday: “The Virginia Mason Franciscan Health system is not postponing elective procedures at this time, however given high hospital volumes we may need to reschedule certain procedures on a case by case basis. We are carefully monitoring our capacity and sharing resources across our hospitals to ensure we provide our patients with the care they need.”
It added that “Like other hospitals across Washington, we are experiencing high hospital and emergency department patient volumes, and a significant spike in COVID-19 cases. This is in combination with a severe staffing shortage in health care throughout our region and our country.”
The state is now reporting daily case counts “in the 3,000 range for the first time since the winter surge,” DOH said, with 24 new deaths statewide on Friday.
Pierce County on Friday reported 382 new cases. Meanwhile, the county’s vaccination rate shows just under 60 percent of the population 12 and older has initiated vaccination, and nearly 53 percent is fully vaccinated, according to the state’s vaccine dashboard updated Friday afternoon.
That compares with the state rate of 70.7 percent of those 12 and older initiating vaccination, and 62.5 percent fully vaccinated.
“Vaccination progress is continuing, but not fast enough,” Shah said Friday.
On Monday, Gov. Jay Inslee announced required COVID-19 vaccines covering state workers and licensed health-care providers in the state. Later in the week, the state’s schools superintendent requested that K-12 school personnel be added to the mandate.
