How much is COVID-19 breaking through vaccines in Pierce County? We need more data
One of the most memorable movie taglines comes to mind as Washington sees a surge in COVID-19 cases — a fifth wave caused by a slowdown in vaccinations and an uprising of the hyper-infectious Delta variant.
People of a certain age can recall the haunting slogan for “Jaws 2” perhaps better than the movie itself: “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water ….”
When it comes to the latest COVID news, however, it’s wise not to get sucked into Hollywood-style theatrics. What our state needs right now are level-headed precautions to control the spread of a virus notorious for its resilience, even as it sickens and kills far fewer people than last winter.
We’re counting on down-to-earth guidance like what health leaders in Pierce and several other counties issued this week, later reiterated by Gov. Jay Inslee: Everyone should wear masks indoors when the vaccination status of others is unknown. You could be a Delta carrier even if fully vaccinated, putting immunocompromised and other vulnerable people at needless risk.
We’re also counting on pop-up vaccine clinics, like one that the Tacoma Pierce-County Health Department held Tuesday at an Eastside Tacoma food bank. These and other outreach tools are how TPCHD can overcome the county’s dismal 48 percent rate of residents who’ve had at least one dose — still near the bottom in Western Washington, according to state Department of Health data.
And speaking of data, we’re absolutely counting on detailed information about the changing face of this pandemic —more information, not less — reported on dashboard pages maintained online by DOH and TPCHD.
Some public health agencies across the country are cutting coronavirus communications. While TPCHD officials say that’s not in their immediate plans, they’ve signalled wanting to return more resources to traditional priorities such as infant mortality, safe drinking water and chronic disease prevention.
We get that. But the value of sharing COVID data can’t be underestimated.
Case in point: The public is increasingly hungry to learn about so-called “breakthrough cases.” That’s when someone tests positive despite receiving the full series of vaccinations at least two weeks earlier — a scary but rare occurrence.
Washington health officials monitor and investigate these cases and have published some statewide data in a weekly report since late May. Among the findings :
A total of 4,241 breakthrough cases had been identified through July 24. Measured against the 4.8 million Washingtonians who’ve been fully vaccinated, that’s a drop in the bucket.
People experienced symptoms in 86 percent of cases and were hospitalized 8 percent of the time.
The number of deaths stood at 52, and the median age of the deceased was 82.5.
The state also reports demographic details of breakthrough cases by age, gender and race/ethnicity.
One blind spot for Washingtonians: The data isn’t broken down by county. TPCHD doesn’t collect it, and the state doesn’t report it.
“We haven’t been reporting by geography because the numbers are so small,” DOH spokesperson Teresa McCallion told us by email. “We must follow small number guidance to avoid inadvertently identifying a person ...
“That said, we are now getting enough cases that we are considering adding county-level data,” McCallion added.
That’s good news. Even better would be if they started sharing breakthrough data on par with the other Washington. Health officials in Washington, D.C. go well beyond what our state is doing; they report the chronology (not just the cumulative total) of these cases, how long after vaccination people were infected, even the brand of vaccine they received.
As for scaling back COVID data online, DOH tells us there are no plans to do so. McCallion said they’re enhancing features on the state dashboard; by mid-August, they also plan to roll out a new report showing cases, hospitalizations and deaths by vaccine status.
Local health officials are more guarded about the future of virus data sharing — and frankly could do a better job sharing it now. More and more we’ve noticed TPCHD won’t provide local data, instead pointing us to state numbers.
Communicating robust public information about the latest virus trends is a key responsibility for public health leaders. It can show the tremendous efficacy of vaccines to data-minded holdouts. It can also warn people about the potency of variants if any really start to break through.
People want to know everything they can about the adaptability of this virus, which has upended the world but feels most real inside one’s own area code.
News Tribune editorials reflect the views of our Editorial Board and are written by opinion editor Matt Misterek. Other board members are: Stephanie Pedersen, News Tribune president and editor; Matt Driscoll, local columnist; and Jim Walton, community representative. The Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom and does not influence the work of news reporting and editing staffs. For questions about the board or our editorials, email matt.misterek@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 8:45 AM.