Coronavirus In Sammamish-Issaquah: The Week In Review

SAMMAMISH, WA — Washington appears to be in a better position than it has been in recent months, between the first round of coronavirus vaccinations and recent trends that suggest the state is making progress in flattening the curve of the latest, record-breaking surge of new COVID-19 infections.

While it appears the state could be turning the situation around, health officials warn that daily case counts remain high, and that residents must continue to follow safety guidelines through the coming weeks to begin reducing the number of infections.

"We're pleased that we seem to be bending the curve, and yet we've not yet plateaued. I want to also just really emphasize that for the holidays here it is incredibly important that people do not gather socially," said Secretary of Health John Wiesman at a conference Wednesday. "We're going to need to continue doing the virtual events that folks did over the Thanksgiving holiday."

The state's top health experts noted during their weekly update that Washington appears to have avoided a surge in new infections following Thanksgiving. Now, they're hoping the same will hold true for Christmas and New Years.

"It's important that we stay the course, and we don't let down our guard," said Dr. Kathy Lofy, the state health officer. "If we were to have another surge in COVID-19 activity at our current level of disease, which is very high, it would result in more hospitalizations and deaths and would very likely overwhelm our hospitals."

Similarly, while the arrival of first batch of the Pfizer vaccine is great news, health leader say it doesn't mean the pandemic is over.

"Vaccines are a critical tool for controlling the spread of COVID-19, but they are far from the only too," Wiesman said. "Even as we begin to vaccinate people in our state, it will still be important to maintain the infection control measures that have become part of our daily lives."

Vaccinations began Tuesday in Washington, and since then vaccine doses have been distributed to dozens of sites across all of Washington's 39 counties.

In Sammamish, Public Health - Seattle & King County recorded three cases Friday, with 99 positive tests, three hospitalizations and no new deaths resulting from the coronavirus in the past two weeks. The city's 14-day testing positivity rate sits at 6.6 percent. In Issaquah, 24 cases were added Friday, with 149 positive tests, nine hospitalizations and five deaths recorded over 14 days. The city's testing positivity rate reached 8.7 percent.

The rate of cases in the state's most populous county dropped slightly to 411 per 100,000 residents over two weeks, a figure more than 16 times the goal range.

Related: King County Coronavirus Levels Remain High Heading Into Christmas

Catch up on the latest headlines:

Without warning, CDC cuts next vaccine shipment by 40%

Washington will receive 40 percent fewer doses of the Pfizer vaccine than expected next week.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced the shortfall over Twitter Thursday, saying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had informed him and several other states of the cuts, but had not explained why.

"This is disruptive and frustrating," Inslee tweeted. "We need accurate, predictable numbers to plan and ensure on-the-ground success."

It's 40 percent less than we were originally thinking," Washington State Health Secretary John Wiesman told the Washington Post. "We thought we were getting 74,100 and now we are planning for 44,850 doses."

Pfizer has placed the blame on the federal government, who they say failed to give them adequate instructions.

"Pfizer is not having any production issues with our COVID-19 vaccine, and no shipments containing the vaccine are on hold or delayed. This week, we successfully shipped all 2.9 million doses that we were asked to ship by the U.S. Government to the locations specified by them. We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but, as of now, we have not received any shipping instructions for additional doses."

A Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement to Patch refuting both Pfizer and the governor. They claim the problem is a mix-up and that states misunderstood how many vaccines they were each being allocated. The statement reads in part:

“There was some confusion between planning and training numbers provided in mid-November and actual official weekly allocations, which are only available the week prior to distribution shipping because they are based on the number of releasable vaccine doses available. We are working on clearing up any misunderstanding up with the governors and jurisdictions. Operation Warp Speed allocation numbers locked in with states have not been changed or adjusted."

Read more: CDC Cuts Vaccine Shipments In Washington By 40% Next Week

FDA approves second coronavirus vaccine

Thursday, a panel of FDA Advisers gave the OK to a second coronavirus vaccine. The vaccine, developed by drugmaker Moderna, was backed by nearly all panelists, earning approval with a vote of 20 -0. Only one panel member abstained.

Just one day after the advisory board voted, Friday the FDA took their recommendation and approved the vaccine for emergency use. Now that's done, Moderna is preparing to ship 6 million doses of the vaccine to 3,285 sites across the country.

During the shipment period, researchers from a western state pact including Washington, Oregon and California will perform a second analysis to ensure the vaccine is safe. The same pact investigated the Pfizer vaccine during its initial shipment, and say they do not expect that their study will delay any Washingtonians from receiving their dose of the vaccine.

Bother Moderna and Pfizer say their vaccines were 94 percent effective in clinical trials.

Read more: FDA Issues Emergency Approval Of Moderna Coronavirus Vaccine

Congress approaches stimulus deal

The government has passed a stop-gap bill to avert a shutdown through the weekend, but the clock is ticking to pass a second COVID-19 relief bill.

Since the CARES Act passed early in the pandemic, congress has failed to deliver on a follow-up. But now, it appears negotiators in Washington, D.C., might finally be nearing an agreement— as long as they can get it done by Sunday.

Many details about the bill remain in flux, but there are a few things to look out for, including a proposed $600-$700 direct payment to taxpayers. The current proposal would send about half of what the CARES Act passed in March provided, which was $1,200 payments per adult and $500 per child.

Other plans include an extension to the federal unemployment benefits for the jobless, an extra month added to the eviction moratorium and further funding for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) food stamps to fight hunger.

Read more: Congress Nears New Stimulus Deal: What That Means For Washington

Washington recommends bringing more students back to class

State officials have announced a new set of guidelines that recommend most public school districts begin bringing younger students back into the classroom, provided they can meet several new safety standards.

Gov. Jay Inslee and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal unveiled the new guidelines Wednesday. Before the guidance was released, just 15 percent of the state's 1.2 million students were attending in-person instruction.

"This is good and encouraging news, both for our educators who want to get back to work in a safe and healthy environment, and for parents whose lives have certainly been disrupted, and for students whose lives, educationally, have been significantly diminished in many cases," Inslee said.

Guidance varies depending on how much COVID-19 activity the district is currently seeing in their community. In areas with high numbers of daily cases, only pre-K and students with the highest needs should be prioritized. In areas with moderate case counts, schools can begin reopening middle and high schools to students, and areas with low transmission can bring every student back to class.

Read more: Washington Recommends More Schools Begin Reopening

Washington struggles with COVID-19 prison surge

As Washington's prison population endures yet another spike in new coronavirus cases, advocates and activists are asking the state to reconsider their safety guidelines.

According to the latest data from the Department of Corrections, out of the 2,517 inmates who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, at least 1,639 have active infections.

Columbia Legal Service hosted a virtual news conference Tuesday to call on the DOC to take further action to contain the virus' spread.

"Among these outbreaks is a common pattern of failure by DOC to respond to and control the virus, and the numbers are staggering: almost 800 new infections at Airway Heights in Spokane, over 400 new infections at the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, and over 240 new infections at Stafford Creek in Aberdeen," said Nick Allen, deputy director of advocacy at Columbia Legal Services.

Attorneys say the current solutions not only aren't working, but are often inhumane.

"People are confined in crowded cells for nearly 24 hours per day. They have limited access to restrooms. Food is served cold and infrequently. Communication with loved ones is severely restricted," Allen said.

Read more: As Coronavirus Surges In WA Prisons, Advocates Call For Action

UW finds coronavirus rapid tests are less sensitive

Coronavirus antigen tests are much faster than traditional nasal swabs, returning results within 15 minutes. But as a tradeoff, they're also about 100 times less sensitive than traditional lab testing, according to a new study from UW Medicine.

The test in question are BinaxNOW rapid test designed by Abbott Laboratories. The federal government bought 150 million of the test kits and shipped them across the country. Several million were sent to Washington. The antigen tests are also the backbone of a COVID-19 testing pilot program that may allow students to return to classrooms in greater numbers.

Unfortunately, they may be much less effective at confirming the presence of the virus in asymptomatic people than previously thought.

"The Abbott test works surprisingly well, but it will likely miss cases from whom live virus would be detected by other methods," said Dr. Alex Greninger, the senior author of the study.

For the study, UW researchers had patients take both antigen tests and traditional PRC lab tests, and found that antigen tests require the patient to be shedding much larger amounts of the virus before they accurately identify it.

"Although affordable, rapid testing is critical for reducing transmission in this pandemic, it's important to understand how these tests perform and use them appropriately," Greninger said.

Read more: UW Study Finds Coronavirus Rapid Tests Are 'Far Less Sensitive'

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.

In addition, data issues and concerns about how deaths are tabulated have pushed the DOH to change how data is logged over the past week. As a result, DOH says current testing and case numbers should be interpreted with caution.

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