Here’s our weekly update on the local pandemic numbers and ratings:
KING COUNTY CUMULATIVE NUMBERS (until Friday, as they are not updated on weekends):
* 179,394 cases – 2,946 more than a week ago (6,370 total in West Seattle, up 120)
* 8,937 hospitalizations – 54 over a week ago (262 total from West Seattle, up 3)
* 2,136 people have died – 11 more from a week ago (76 total in West Seattle, unchanged)
VACCINATION RATE
80.9% of King County residents aged 5 and over have completed their vaccine series – up 1% from a week ago
By West Seattle zip code – note that these numbers are still NOT available as 5+, so they reflect the percentage of the population that is 12+:
98106 – 87.7% of completed series, 33.2% also received a booster dose
98116 – 90.7% of series completed, 43.2% also received a booster dose
98,126 – 82.8% of completed series, 37% also received a booster dose
98,136 – 92.4% completed the series, 47.5% also received a booster dose
98 146 – 83% of sets completed, 30.1% also received a booster dose
(Find more King County statistics related to COVID here.)
PANDEMIC NEWS OF THE WEEK
Omicron – Health officials have warned this week that the number of cases is likely to increase rapidly as this new variant spreads. Public Health-Seattle King County also notes:
The severity of the Omicron cases is still unclear. Most people who are vaccinated should be protected against serious infections, but we would expect to see many more severe cases in unvaccinated people, as well as many milder breakthrough infections in those vaccinated.
Head of Public Health Dr. Jeff duchin led a briefing on Friday – here’s the video, which begins with a briefing from researcher Dr. Trevor Bedford:
The PHSKC press release includes tips for staying safe.
The J&J vaccine is no longer recommended – If you have just been vaccinated, federal and state health authorities now recommend both doses Pfizer and Modern single dose vaccines NOT A WORD vaccine, although the latter will remain available. Concern over the J&J vaccine involves a side effect, which health officials nevertheless point out remains rare – 54 cases nationwide out of 14 million people who have received the vaccine.
Lots of statistics – For anyone interested in all the details, the state health department released these reports this week – cases among children / youth (here); cases, hospitalizations and deaths by vaccination status (here); morbidity and mortality by race, ethnicity and language spoken (here); sequencing and variants in Washington State (here); Resource for vaccine progress surveillance and case information (here).
NEED TO BE TESTED IN WEST SEATTLE?
the UW Medicine test service in the Nino Cantu Sports Complex South-West the parking lot (2801 SW Thistle) continues to operate; you can make an appointment here. In the meantime, the Curative test kiosk at Don Armeni boat ramp (1222 Harbor SW) is also still in operation, as is a healing site at Summit atlas (35th / Roxbury). In addition, both West Seattle Walgreens stores offer test drives (35th / Morgan and 16th / Roxbury) – more info here. (We’ll check back this week during holiday hours at major test sites.)
