Tonight’s pandemic headlines:
J & J VACCINE UN-PAUSED: The FDA decided the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine can be used again – with a warning about potential, rare side effects. Read the full announcement here. The special Western states review group was scheduled to meet tonight to decide whether to go ahead and clear it for use in our state and others – no word yet how that went,
COUNTY HEALTH OFFICER’S BRIEFING: Dr. Jeff Duchin talked about the J & J unpause and a variety of other topics. He warned that King County is at risk of having to roll back to Phase 2 when the next state assessment happens a week from Monday – King County’s cases are over the state-set maximum for Phase 3, and hospitalizations are almost there. Case numbers this week are 11 percent higher than last week; hospitalizations are up 25 percent. More of those needing hospitalization are 20-29 than 70+. Virus variants are an increasing problem, too; they only test a sample of cases but even with that, more than 1,400 variant cases have been detected. Watch his entire briefing here.
KING COUNTY NUMBERS: Now, the daily stats from the Public Health daily-summary page, cumulative totals:
*95,470 people have tested positive, 408 more than yesterday’s total
*1,502 people have died, 2 more than yesterday’s total
*5,645 people have been hospitalized, 24 more than yesterday’s total
*1,023,092 people have been tested, 4,537 more than yesterday’s total
On to our weekly check of key numbers on the COVID Vaccination Among King County Residents dashboard:
*1,076,724 people have received one dose
*681,274 people have received both doses
*1,511,775 doses have been allocated to King County (not counting pharmacy programs)
One week ago, the first four totals were 93,046/1,493/5,532/1,003,142, and the vaccination totals were 962,030/596,525/1,380,455.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 145.6 million cases, 3,086,000+ deaths – see the nation-by-nation numbers here.
CITY GETS MORE VACCINE: The city expects to give more than 50,000 shots next week, with its biggest allocation of vaccine yet. The announcement urges everyone in King County who’s seeking vaccine to sign up for the Seattle notification list. (We have reason to believe they’ve opened appointments – two people we know who have been on the list got notification tonight of a code they could use to sign up.)
IF YOU’RE SEARCHING FOR VACCINE – here are links to try:
*Here’s how to sign up for the aforementioned city notification list – go here.
*Reminder that if you’re 60+ you can just walk up to the West Seattle hub (2801 SW Thistle) 9 am-4 pm Mondays-Saturdays and get vaccinated – the “Good Neighbor” who brings you, regardless of their age, can too.
*Health-care providers (particularly bigger ones like UW Medicine (one reader specifically recommends Valley Medical Center), Franciscan, Swedish, Kaiser Permanente, Neighborcare, etc.)
*covidwa.com (volunteer-run aggregator) – you can also follow its tweets for instant notifications
*The state’s Vaccine Locator (as mentioned above)
*The CDC’s Vaccine Finder
*Pharmacies big and small – Safeway, Rite Aid, QFC, Pharmaca, Costco
*Sea Mar clinics
And if travel time is not a barrier – reader recommendation: Try this lookup for potential appointments within a few hours’ drive.
GOT INFO OR PHOTOS? westseattleblog@gmail.com or text/voice 206-293-6302 – thank you!
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