CORONAVIRUS: This week’s West Seattle and countywide trends

| Coronavirus | West Seattle news

Since it’s Sunday night, it’s time for our weekly check of countywide and West Seattle COVID stats from the past week. A shorter reference week this time, as the county did not update data on Friday, but overall, cases are up countywide for a ninth week; hospitalizations are up; deaths are up. Here are the numbers, from the Public Health – Seattle/King County dashboard:

*9 percent more cases countywide in the past week than the week before
*Currently averaging 1,118 new daily cases countywide (up from 1,042 when we checked a week ago)

*37 percent more hospitalizations countywide in the past week than the week before
*Currently averaging 15 new hospitalizations daily (up from 10 a week ago)

*107 percent more deaths countywide in the past two weeks than the two weeks before (the dashboard doesn’t offer a one-week increment)
*Currently averaging 2 deaths daily (same two-week average aslast week)

For West Seattle, we have two-week comparisons (these are the combined totals from two “health reporting areas,” labeled West Seattle and Delridge):
*895 cases between 4/30 and 5/14, up from 645 between 4/15 and 4/29
*10 hospitalizations between 4/30 and 5/14, up from 7 between 4/15 and 4/29
*No deaths between 4/30 and 5/14, same as between 4/15 and 4/29

VACCINATION: This week, boosters were recommended for everyone 5 and up. Checking vaccination rates:
*81.1 percent of all King County residents have completed the initial series (up .1% from a week ago)
*85.9 percent of all King County residents ages 5 and up have completed the initial series (up .1% from a week ago)
*49.2 percent of all King County residents have had the initial series plus a booster (up .2% from a week ago)

*In West Seattle, here are the zip-code vaccination rates for ages 5 and up (reminder, 98106 and 98146 are not entirely within WS):
98106 – 88.2% completed initial series (up .1% from a week earlier), 53.2% have had a booster
98116 – 93% completed initial series (up .1% from a week earlier), 64.9% have had a booster
98126 – 83.7% completed initial series (up .1% from a week earlier), 55.1% have had a booster
98136 – 93.8% completed initial series (same as a week earlier), 68.1% have had a booster
98146 – 83.2% completed initial series (up .1% from a week earlier), 48.1% have had a booster

VACCINATION AND TESTING, UPDATED HOURS: No pop-up clinics announced for the week ahead; look for vaccination locations via this statewide lookup. If you want to get tested and don’t have a kit at home, public testing sites include the city-supported site at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex (2801 SW Thistle, 9 am-5:30 pm Mondays-Saturdays) and the Curative kiosk at Don Armeni Boat Ramp (1220 Harbor SW, 9 am-3 pm Monday-Friday). … If you need to report self-test results, that’s explained on this page.

Jay West May 23, 2022 (7:35 am)

We’re to 15.4% positivity rate on the county’s PCR testing as of most recent update. Remember you have to have enough viral RNA in your nose at the time of swabbing to test positive. If you have symptoms and turn up negative try testing again in a day or two, as sometimes (perhaps often) there is a delay in positivity. According to CDC the majority of people have at least one risk factor for a poor outcome and likely qualify for some sort of treatment if the infection is caught early enough. Death and even hospitalization rates should be lower than in the past because now most of us have some amount of immunity, and finally we have treatments, and more practiced care. It’s tragic that so many were already lost to previous waves of disease. Now, let’s all be the survivors. Here is a link to the NIH treatment guide. https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapies/

Matt May 23, 2022 (9:26 am)

@WSB — did you hear back last week from Curative about the Summit Atlas testing location? I assume it’s permanently closed at this point but it would be great if it returned, it was super convenient for me.