Tonight’s pandemic notes:
NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: Checking today’s daily summary from Seattle-King County Public Health – the cumulative totals:
*81,379 people have tested positive, 102 more than yesterday’s total
*1,357 people have died, 12 more than yesterday’s total
*5,083 people have been hospitalized, 1 more than yesterday’s total
*895,001 people have been tested, 2,481 more than yesterday’s total
One week ago, the totals were 80.317/1,321/5,008/879,299.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
NATIONAL/WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 112.1 million cases worldwide, 28.2 million of them in the U.S. – see other nation-by-nation stats by going here.
ANOTHER VARIANT: From the state Health Department:
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) along with Public Heath – Seattle & King County and the UW Medicine Virology Lab, announce that the B.1.351 variant of SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in King County, WA.
The variant, initially identified in South Africa, was identified yesterday through genomic sequencing at the UW Medicine Virology Laboratory. The patient tested positive for COVID-19 on January 29, 2021. Other details about the case, including travel history are not available as the person was not able to be reached through contact tracing efforts.
At the same time, a virology lab found evidence of 19 additional cases of the B.1.1.7 variant strain in Washington state. First identified in the United Kingdom, this brings the total number of known cases of the B.1.1.7 variant in Washington state to 39. Currently, there are no confirmed cases of the P.1 variant that originated in Brazil.
So why does this matter? The announcement quotes King County Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin as saying, “The B.1.1.7 variant can spread more readily and B.1.351 viruses might reduce vaccine effectiveness.”
VACCINATION SITUATION: Karen emailed today to say she got an appointment at a South King County pharmacy through the volunteer-run covidwa.com – so if you’re still searching, and up for traveling, that might be your breakthrough.
GOT SOMETHING TO REPORT? westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302, text/voice – thank you!
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