Coronavirus updates: State passes 281k cases; vaccinations to be expanded
Updated at 9:30 a.m.
The Washington state Department of Health reported 2,892 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday and 49 deaths.
Pierce County reported 423 cases Wednesday and nine new deaths. Pierce County has a total of 348 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Wednesday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 281,202 cases and 3,838 deaths. Those numbers are up from 278,310 cases and 3,789 deaths Tuesday. The case total includes 12,001 cases listed as probable. DOH revises previous case and death counts daily.
Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.
As of Dec. 25, the date with the most recent complete data, 99 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.
Preliminary reports indicate average daily hospital admissions were 102 in early January.
Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,188), approximately 80.7% (959) were occupied by patients Wednesday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 18.1% (215) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.
Pierce County Superior Court jury trials postponed again amid coronavirus pandemic
Updated at 9:30 a.m.
Pierce County Superior Court officials said Wednesday they are suspending jury trials until at least March 1, 2021 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The judges made this decision for the safety of witnesses, litigants, defendants and court staff during this time of continued elevated COVID-19 positive case numbers,” a press release from the court said. “The court believes the additional delay will help more of our potential jurors and court participants obtain vaccinations, thus creating a safer environment for all involved.”
The order doesn’t apply to bench trials or other court appearances.
Pierce County Superior already had suspended civil jury trials until at least March, and criminal jury trials until at least February.
Courts first suspended trials last year. Pierce County and others slowly resumed them with safety precautions, then as cases surged postponed them again.
COVID-19 cases up in Washington, vaccinations to be expanded
Updated at 9:30 a.m.
The Washington state Department of Health said Wednesday that COVID-19 cases appear to be increasing sharply in the most recent data.
The flat and declining case count trends in mid-to-late December may be due to fewer people seeking care or getting tested over the holidays, officials said in a news release.
Officials say many counties have had post-Christmas spikes in cases and that the number of people becoming infected is increasing.
“We are continuing to see flat trends at a high level of disease activity, with signs of a concerning uptick in the most recent data,” Dr. Scott Lindquist, the state epidemiologist for communicable diseases, said. “If we want to maintain the progress we made in the fall and move forward with reopening, we must redouble our efforts to control the virus.”
Officials also said Wednesday the state will move into its next phase of COVID-19 vaccination sooner than expected and will begin inoculating people aged 70 years and older, among others. The Seattle Times reported. Health secretary Dr. Umair Shah acknowledged the state’s rollout had been uneven and that the department needed to hasten the pace of vaccination.
“While we are making progress every single day … I recognize it has not been enough,” Shah said in a news briefing Wednesday, adding that he had directed changes at the department. “One of those changes is an accelerated timeline to move to our next grouping — Phase 1B — which we expect to do in the next coming days.”
Shah did not give an exact date for when the state would move to Phase B1, which includes people 70 years and older and people 50 years and older in multi-generational households.
Army’s COVID-19 vaccine may hold key to beating coronavirus mutations
Updated at 9:30 a.m.
Scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research have promising new data indicating their vaccine will work against significant mutations of COVID-19, as well as entirely different coronaviruses, an achievement that other vaccines so far have not accomplished.
The data has yet to be peer reviewed. But the Army lab is hopeful that a pan-coronavirus vaccine is achievable after testing the drug on SARS, a coronavirus that emerged in 2003 with significant biological differences from the current pandemic disease known as SARS-CoV-2.
Tests of the vaccine against both SARS as well as emerging variants of COVID-19 have shown “very good responses,” said Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of Walter Reed’s Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch.
Modjarrad, in an interview with McClatchy, said the potential for a vaccine that is built to withstand mutations to the coronavirus – and prevent future outbreaks of coronavirus diseases – could be of interest to the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.
The initial results of the vaccine’s ability to counter both COVID-19 and SARS “gives us very good confidence that we can start making strides towards the other coronaviruses,” Modjarrad said.
“It’s the first step to having a universal vaccine,” he said.
This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 9:44 AM with the headline "Coronavirus updates: State passes 281k cases; vaccinations to be expanded."
