Coronavirus In Sammamish-Issaquah: The Week In Review

SAMMAMISH, WA — There was no shortage of coronavirus developments in Washington this week, as the state moved forward to the first tier of phase 1B, and eligibility was expanded to include all adults ages 65 and older. While the changes open up vaccines to hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians, supply chain issues have clouded expectations for future shipments and made state and local health officials uneasy.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced a new goal to triple vaccination rates across the state, from 15,000 to 45,000 administered each day. To accomplish that will require the federal government to step up vaccine deliveries significantly and provide better long-term estimates for supplies.

"We are removing as many impediments as possible to Washingtonians getting vaccinated; we are going to deliver every dose that comes into our state," Inslee said Monday. "We will still be dependent on the federal government for doses, but we are doing everything we can once it gets here."

In the meantime, state and local health authorities are working to stand-up mass vaccination sites, including four scheduled to open next week to serve more rural counties. King and Pierce counties have also unveiled plans for high capacity sites, as well as pop-up clinics. As vaccine inventories increase in the weeks ahead, the state hopes to scale up the sites and provide more supplies to bolster county efforts.

The governor also enlisted some of Washington's largest businesses, including Starbucks and Costco to support vaccination efforts, and Amazon announced a one-day clinic scheduled this weekend in Seattle.

The new efforts come as Washington continues to see high levels of coronavirus activity in the wake of the holidays, as case counts remain below the December peak but well above the rates seen in the fall. With the looming specter of a more contagious strain, health officials are urging Washingtonians to recommit to safety precautions and tamp down transmission rates before a "COVID-19 volcano" erupts.

In Sammamish, Public Health - Seattle & King County recorded five cases Friday, with 79 positive tests, one hospitalization and no deaths resulting from the coronavirus over the past two weeks. The city's 14-day positivity rate sits at 11 percent among 719 people tested. In Issaquah, just two cases were added Friday, with 67 positive tests, no hospitalizations and no deaths recorded over 14 days. The city's testing positivity rate has reached 13.3 percent.

The rate of cases in the state's most populous county has decreased to 310 per 100,000 residents over two weeks, but remains more than 12 times higher than the goal range.

Catch up on some of this week's coronavirus headlines:

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Washington marks 1 year since nation's first coronavirus diagnosis

Washington paused to remember a somber milestone this week, marking a full year since a Snohomish County man received the first coronavirus case diagnosed in the United States. Health care workers at an Everett hospital became the first on the front lines of the pandemic in the nation, monitoring the 35-year-old man around the clock until his discharge two weeks later.

Just over a month later, King County would report the very first death linked to the virus and identify the earliest epicenter of the virus at a Kirkland senior center, where more than three dozen would die within a month.

Since then, COVID-19 has ballooned across the United States, which now leads the globe in total cases and deaths resulting from the coronavirus. The latest models from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predict the national death toll could climb to 567,000 by May 1 if the current trajectory holds.

Read more: Washington Marks 1 Year Since Nation's 1st Coronavirus Diagnosis

Gov. Jay Inslee, Bill Gates receive first dose of vaccine

Gov. Jay Inslee and his wife Trudi received their first doses of coronavirus vaccine Friday under the state's adjusted guidelines allowing vaccinations for all Washingtonians ages 65 and above. The governor is 69 years old.

As KING 5 reports, the Inslees got their shots in front of news cameras at an assisted living facility in Olympia.

As we advance through our vaccine rollout, you can get more information about when you’re eligible and where you can get vaccinated here: https://t.co/wFq7VhO62y
— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) January 22, 2021

Also on Friday, Bill Gates, 65, announced he received a vaccine under the expanded eligibility threshold. The Microsoft co-founder and Medina resident shared a photo on Twitter Friday morning.

One of the benefits of being 65 is that I’m eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. I got my first dose this week, and I feel great. Thank you to all of the scientists, trial participants, regulators, and frontline healthcare workers who got us to this point. pic.twitter.com/67SIfrG1Yd
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) January 22, 2021

All Washington counties remain in reopening phase 1; state launches 'Roadmap to Recovery' dashboard

State health officials announced Friday that none of Washington's nine regions would qualify to move forward into the second reopening phase under Gov. Jay Inslee's "Healthy Washington" plan.

Friday's announcement was accompanied by the unveiling of a new dashboard that allows residents to easily track their progress across four categories.

Under the governor's order, the Washington State Department of Health evaluates each region's progress every Friday to determine whether they can move forward the following Monday. So far, no county has moved out of phase 1.

The state's 39 counties are grouped in nine regions, which much meet several benchmarks to qualify for phase 2. King, Pierce and Snohomish counties are evaluated together as the Puget Sound region.

To move forward each region must show:

• A decreasing trend in 14-day rate of new COVID-19 cases per 100K population
• A decreasing trend in 14-day rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100K population
• An average 7-day percent occupancy of ICU staffed beds less than 90%
• 7-day percent positivity of COVID-19 tests less than 10%

Read more: DOH Launches New Dashboard To Track Reopening Phases

UW clinic reports 'multifold increase' in COVID-19 'long-haulers'

A University of Washington medical clinic that opened last May to assist COVID-19 patients with lingering symptoms is seeing a significant increase in the number of patients it sees each week, UW Medicine announced Friday.

When the rehab clinic first opened at Harborview Medical Center, it saw about two people a week. This month, that number has jumped to 25, hospital officials said.

According to UW Medicine, some COVID-19 patients experience symptoms for months, long after they test negative for the virus. The most common symptoms for "long-haulers" include shortness of breath, fatigue, and "brain fog," but some people experience rapid heart rates, dizziness and long-term loss of smell and taste, UW Medicine said.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last September estimated up to two million people across the country may suffer prolonged symptoms after a COVID-19 diagnosis.

"I think we're going to have a lot more COVID infections and even if it's only 5 percent of the infections that have long-term effects, it's a massive public health issue," said Dr. Aaron Bunnell, a UW Medicine rehabilitation physician. "We think that multiple systems can be affected and as literature comes out, we're seeing that autonomic, immune and cardiac issues are more common than maybe we initially thought. We're also seeing the cognitive impairments are probably more common in patients that were never hospitalized."

Bunnell estimates that more than 300 patients will visit the clinic by next month.

Read more on the UW Medicine website.

Total coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths by county:

Editors note: Patch is now updating these totals on a weekly, rather than daily, basis. Readers should keep in mind that the increases below represent infections, hospitalizations and deaths over a seven-day period.

Also, note that the totals below include 13,062 probable cases.

County	Confirmed Cases	Hospitalizations	Deaths
Adams	1,734 (+24)	87 (+1)	19 (+2)
Asotin	1,205 (+173)	56 (+3)	26 (+1)
Benton	13,796 (+465)	719 (+28)	186 (+8)
Chelan	5,549 (+189)	243 (+12)	45 (+3)
Clallam	859 (+31)	34 (+4)	5 (+1)
Clark	16,639 (+766)	881 (+46)	177 (+12)
Columbia	93	14	4
Cowlitz	3,415 (+339)	162 (+15)	38 (+4)
Douglas	2,949 (+76)	117 (+1)	18 (+1)
Ferry	197 (+4)	12	4
Franklin	9,885 (+263)	481 (+2)	88 (+1)
Garfield	102	12	4
Grant	6,902 (+257)	323 (+22)	54 (+2)
Grays Harbor	2,777 (+116)	134 (+12)	31 (+3)
Island	1,125 (+51)	71 (+4)	22
Jefferson	279 (+12)	23	2
King	74,951 (+2,698)	4,700	1,203
Kitsap	4,893 (+252)	245 (+10)	60 (+8)
Kittitas	1,996 (+53)	54 (+2)	30
Klickitat	586 (+29)	27 (+1)	4 (+1)
Lewis	3,102 (+183)	197 (+17)	36
Lincoln	298 (+7)	17	4 (-1)
Mason	2,027 (+107)	63 (+3)	18 (+2)
Okanogan	1,975 (+53)	119 (+2)	33 (+3)
Pacific	637 (+45)	23 (+1)	8
Pend Oreille	540 (+21)	36 (+1)	4
Pierce	30,509 (+1,628)	2,286 (+124)	442 (+27)
San Juan	91	5	0
Skagit	3,898 (+175)	224 (+10)	47 (+1)
Skamania	234 (+12)	9	1
Snohomish	26,773 (+904)	1,783 (+58)	470 (+28)
Spokane	31,696 (+1,430)	1,684 (+91)	438 (+23)
Stevens	1,386 (+45)	82 (+5)	19
Thurston	6,017 (+353)	363 (+18)	65 (+5)
Wahkiakum	65 (+4)	2	0
Walla Walla	4,244 (+205)	206 (+6)	48 (+4)
Whatcom	5,142 (+475)	250 (+19)	59 (+3)
Whitman	3,078 (+95)	81 (+3)	38 (+3)
Yakima	23,543 (+853)	1,196 (+33)	360 (+15)
Unassigned	1,434 (-5)	16 (-1)	4
Total	298,249 (+12,279)	17,037 (+667)	4,114 (+211)

The above numbers are provided by the state Department of Health, and some numbers differ from the totals provided separately by county health agencies.