CORONAVIRUS: Saturday 1/9/21 roundup, including our weekly West Seattle trend check

| Coronavirus | West Seattle news

Here are tonight’s pandemic toplines:

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: First, the cumulative totals from Public Health‘s daily-summary dashboard:

*67,945 people have tested positive, 877 more than yesterday’s total

*1,140 people have died, 2 more than yesterday’s total

*4,397 people have been hospitalized, 22 more than yesterday’s total

*771,203 people have been tested, 3,673 more than yesterday’s total

One week ago, those totals were 64,109/1,091/4,245/755,169.

WEST SEATTLE TRENDS: Here’s our weekly check of this stat, with numbers shown in two-week increments via the “geography over time” tab on the daily-summary dashboard, combining the totals from the West Seattle and Delridge “health reporting areas” (HRAs). For the past two weeks, 256 positive test results; 271 in the 2 weeks before that; 434 in the two weeks before that. … We also are noting WS death totals each week, as the HRAs are a more precise way of counting those than the zip codes we used briefly, since two of West Seattle’s five ZIP codes also stretch outside the area. The total deaths for the entire pandemic in the two HRAs comprising West Seattle: 51. That’s two more than a week ago.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 89.6 million people have tested positive, and more than 1,926,000 million people have died; U.S. deaths exceed 372,000. Most cases: U.S., India, Brazil, Russia, UK (which this week passed France, which is now #6). See the breakdown, nation by nation, here.

STAY HEALTHY STREETS: Will any of the three in West Seattle become permanent? Watch for “outreach,” the city says.

GOT SOMETHING TO REPORT? westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302, text/voice – thank you!

JJ January 10, 2021 (7:18 am)

Have our local care facilities received their vaccines?

Nichole January 10, 2021 (7:52 am)

Got our first dose of the vaccine at Village Concepts of Burien!

GF January 10, 2021 (7:53 am)

Have thepeople in the West Seattle nursing homes been vaccinated yet,? Like the Mount and the Kenny?

WSB January 10, 2021 (10:08 am)

Vaccination haw begun at The Mount, as mentioned briefly here the other day (seeking more details on them & other local senior/etc. facilities this week).

Mj January 10, 2021 (12:44 pm)

The vaccine coupled with a large percentage of people who already have had it, those that have tested positive and a large number who have had with out knowing it, that have developed natural immunity should result in the demise of the virus sooner than many people think.

Richard January 10, 2021 (3:04 pm)

That is not true.

There are many reports of people being infected by Covid a second time. The symptoms tend to be milder than the first exposure. It is still unclear how long the “natural immunity” might last (after recovering from Covid the first time), and the timeframe for the initial immunity likely varies from person to person.

An effective vaccine will certainly help but even those who receive a vaccine can still carry the virus and infect others.

Bottom line, we should all continue to social distance AND wear a mask around others. Do not assume that “I’ve had it, therefore I don’t need to wear a mask” … that would be very dangerous.
JJ January 10, 2021 (3:08 pm)

…or longer than people may think. I can’t wait to put this awful disease to rest. It’s certainly getting closer. Hopefully soon we can be done with new infections and can focus on healing the long haulers. I’m waiting on my turn at the vaccine.
heartless January 10, 2021 (8:09 pm)

A very large percentage of people? Huh? What percent of people do you think have already been infected?
- WSB January 10, 2021 (8:22 pm)
  
  In West Seattle (the sum of the WS and Delridge “health reporting areas”), just over 2,500 positive cases for the entirety of the pandemic so far. That’s ~3 percent.
  - heartless January 12, 2021 (2:03 pm)
    
    Right. Seems rather far to go for achieving the herd immunity that MJ and others for some reason feel is right around the corner.

wsalien January 10, 2021 (3:36 pm)

“An effective vaccine will certainly help but even those who receive a vaccine can still carry the virus and infect others. “Do you have a source for that? The last I read they weren’t sure if vaccinated people would spread the virus or not.

heartless January 10, 2021 (8:05 pm)

Yeah, I think there is some quibbling about it, but remember that since the vaccine is 95% effective and many can transmit the virus without showing symptoms, it’s best to be a bit cautious. Given the scale, thousands will get the vaccine and still be susceptible to the virus–which means they could spread it (although as more and more get vaccinated there will obviously be less and less spreading).
- wsalien January 11, 2021 (11:54 am)
  
  They’re not sure is my understanding so definitely still be cautious. But what do you mean by “there will be less and less spreading”? If vaccinated people are still spreading the virus won’t there be the same amount of spreading just less people actually getting sick?
  - heartless January 12, 2021 (2:13 pm)
    
    Hi Alien,
    
    I didn’t mean to speak directly to transmissibility given a successful vaccination. I just meant that from a statistical perspective the vaccination will not work for some people (roughly 5%).
    
    Those people could catch covid and not present symptoms. At that point there is no easy way for them to know if they are immune and not transmitting it or sick and transmitting it. And those are the cases where there would be less spread, as more people get vaccinated.
    
    As you’ve mentioned the literature is still somewhat out on transmission given a successful vaccination, but that is probably because that’s trying to prove a negative, something notoriously hard to do.
    
    My gut is that successful vaccinations will indeed dramatically reduce if not stop entire transmission from those vaccinated.

Sorry, comment time is over.