13 Replies to "CORONAVIRUS: Thursday 12/31 roundup"

• Wsres January 1, 2021 (8:13 am)

  Who do we email or call to request to speed up the vaccination distribution process? Washington state is going slow in this process and some of us are ready to be vaccinated. The state has had a year to figure out the distribution process.

  • mark January 1, 2021 (10:06 am)

    No kidding.  We have had to listen to Jay almost daily blame everything on Trump since this started.  Now the vaccines are in his hands and he has only distributed one out of five.  Meanwhile he is keeping the economy locked down and our hospitals are filling up.  Its all on you now Jay.

    • Calires January 2, 2021 (12:41 am)

      There was an excellent article in the New York Times yesterday.  A key item:And critically, public health experts say, federal officials have left many of the details of the final stage of the vaccine distribution process, such as scheduling and staffing, to overstretched local health officials and hospitals.My dad is in a nursing home and has Covid.  His facility is getting vaccines on Tuesday, January 5.

  • Anne January 1, 2021 (10:07 am)

    Watching news-seems like it’s not just Washington  having distribution issues. Honestly cant imagine plans were not in place-but wonder if those were dependent on  money from Federal Government to implement?  What about calling in National guard to help?  Wonder what the cost is? Saw a local news report that said some testing sites may have to close -may not be enough money to keep them  & vaccination sites(when set up) both open. The eye opener for me-it costs 5 MILLION DOLLARS a MONTH  to operate  the testing sites!

  • WS22 January 1, 2021 (3:14 pm)

    You could distribute all the vaccines, but are there enough pharmacists, nurses, and medical assistants to organize and administer them all to 330 million people in the country? I would guess not given the numbers above and the fact that everyone is preoccupied with taking care of covid patients when healthcare is grossly understaffed even without a pandemic. Americans won’t or can’t social distance and sacrifice for the greater good of keeping everyone healthy, and here we are with more cases than any other country in the world by far and little to no infrastructure to react to this. Welcome to Murica.

• ScubaFrog January 1, 2021 (11:19 am)

  There was never any federal distribution process planned, so that was on trump, as he’s been golfing, and “too busy to care” whilst plotting a coup.  Look at Florida, it’s first-come-first-served.  Every state has hundreds of thousands of doses warehoused, not enough healthcare workers to give the shots.  Most extraneous healthcare workers are caring for Covid patients in the hardest-hit states.  In the worst parts of King County, infection rates are 35%.  And trump golfs/tries to steal an election.  Biden plans to have 150M vaccinated in 180 days, trump couldn’t care less about Covid/vaccinations.  We don’t have national leadership (and haven’t since the start of the pandemic).  We need a national lockdown and forced-mask laws.

  • Pessoa January 1, 2021 (2:13 pm)

    The total number of vaccinations is not as important as who is getting the vaccines, such as the elderly, vulnerable and frontline healthcare workers.  I have someone in my immediate family in the Puget Sound region who is mentally ill, has co-morbidities, and has already received their vaccination.  Personally,  I will forgo my vaccination because I am in reasonably decent health, even though age-wise I’m at that tipping point.  I don’t want to minimize it, but we’ve lost track of the fact that the overwhelming majority of people who contract Covid  (and I know a few who have) will have the symptoms of a cold and that will be it.  On top of that we have new therapies, like Regeneron which was part of Operation Warp Speed, even if there are complications.   And no, we do NOT need a national lock down.   

    • East Coast Cynic January 2, 2021 (1:28 pm)

      There is very limited availability of Regeneron.  If you are a government official or you are well connected with the elites, it’s no problem getting it, but as far as the “little people” are concerned, it’s possible you won’t get it due to its availability limited to regions with the most cases and hospitalizations.  You’ll have to luck out on your medical facility having it and surviving long enough to get it if you get a severe case of covid-19.  You don’t want to get it even if you survive it due to long term effects in many cases on internal organs, which may end up shortening your life.People in reasonably decent health get covid-19 if they come in contact with others with the virus.  Good Luck

• Liz Spoerri January 1, 2021 (11:31 am)

  I was surprised to learn that with Kaiser there were only 2 places to receive the vaccine- Federal Way and Bellevue. I imagine they are assuming employers will offer it at this point but it seems odd that there are so few options and none in Seattle.

  • WSB January 1, 2021 (12:59 pm)

    Currently the only people authorized to get it are health-care workers at high risk, long-term care patients, and some other health-care workers if otherwise doses will go wasted (this is a recent change). Hundreds of potential providers, including small local clinics/practices, have applied to get vaccine when it’s available. If you want to take a deep dive on the state’s plan, which was originally drafted last fall, go here:
    https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/COVID19/vaccine
    the plan is here
    https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/1600/coronavirus/WA-COVID-19-Vaccination-Plan.pdf
    The feds have also involved the major drugstore chains Walgreens and CVS. For example, as we reported in previous stories about Providence Mount St. Vincent, they have partnered with Walgreens and were working out how to get staff and patients vaccinated (I’m planning to check in with them post-holiday). You mention Kaiser (which is our HMO) – their messaging says, “As more vaccine supply becomes available, we expect to offer our members and patients vaccinations in early 2021. At this time, we do not have specific dates or locations of our member and patient vaccine clinics confirmed, but we will update this information as we know more.” and “While we’re still developing our plans, we expect to offer the vaccine at many different locations to maximize safety, convenience, and the efficient use of resources.”

• Cindy Craig January 1, 2021 (12:23 pm)

  A close friend works for King County Public Health and there have been a couple of obstacles in the past ten days to getting the vaccine out. The holidays always complicate staffing but this year with health care workers already over extended as a consequence of Covid the timing has been tricky coordinating a major vaccine rollout. Budget considerations are also a significant concern and just as controlling the spread of the virus was left up to the individual states, so has planning for and administering the vaccine. Have faith that there are some really dedicated and highly trained people here in King County who are thinking outside the box to solve these issues and we will see improvement soon.

  • Sam January 1, 2021 (3:42 pm)

    Budget?? I understand it takes money and people to give the   Shots to everyone.  But the government should be paying for all of this . During the virus the government continue to send people into space and I feel that money should have been spent on our health instead.  The government spends money for wars and this is a war to protect human kind,There should not be a budget issue when the entire human races is at risk for getting this virus! Stop all the red tape and start giving shots to the people who live in the community! When I was little the entire school lined up to receive the measles shot and polio vaccine was given to us also at school. 

• 1994 January 1, 2021 (8:08 pm)

  As the vaccine was being developed state and local government had time to come up with a mass vaccination plan that would be efficient. Why not utilize large and available locations such as high school gyms, community colleges, community centers….? This is a pandemic. People could have been trained, and employed, to give the injections. Neighborhoods could have vaccines available everywhere in the city or the state…..planning, planning, and more planning from state and local government  should have figured out an implementation plan for efficient mass vaccinations. This is a pandemic. But there doesn’t seem to be an urgency to efficient vaccine distribution at the local level…or have I missed some news somewhere? I read about the honor system for determining who is next in line for vaccinations…..just get them out there and forget developing an honor system.  Develop local distribution plans.  

Sorry, comment time is over.