Coronavirus updates: Pierce County plans mass vaccination rollout; Tacoma kids headed back to school
The Washington state Department of Health on Thursday reported 2,729 new cases of COVID-19 and 38 deaths.
Pierce County reported 181 cases Thursday and nine new deaths. Pierce County has a total of 355 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Thursday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 283,777 cases and 3,876 deaths. Those numbers are up from 281,048 cases and 3,838 deaths Wednesday. The case total includes 12,1341 cases listed as probable. DOH revises previous case and death counts daily.
Mass COVID vaccination sites planned for Pierce County
UPDATED 9:02 A.M.
In an effort to accelerate the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations, Pierce County officials are moving forward with plans to swiftly create three mass vaccination sites and several mobile locations.
The County’s Department of Emergency Management has developed a rollout plan that calls for large-scale vaccination locations with a goal to have them up and running by the end of January, or as soon as the vaccine is available.
“It’s taken too long for our residents to get COVID vaccinations, so we are implementing a local plan to get this done,” said Bruce Dammeier, Pierce County Executive in a release. “As we proved with the more than 92,455 mobile COVID tests we have administered, we can move quickly and smartly to make this happen for Pierce County residents.”
Based on Census data and early planning efforts, officials estimate the initiative will deliver 700,000 doses to 350,000 people (2 each) in approximately 7 months, depending on vaccine availability. The goal is to administer 4,600 vaccines a day at full capacity. This will augment the vaccination effort currently underway by pharmacies and healthcare providers.
“Getting vaccines into arms as efficiently as possible is our top priority,” said Council Chair Derek Young. “Creating this plan now and providing easy to access locations for people to get vaccinated across the county will reduce life-altering injuries and ultimately save lives.”
The plan also includes up to eight mobile vaccination sites and “drop teams” that can bring vaccinations to those unable to travel to established sites, such as assisted living facilities, adult family homes and other priority groups.
Several months ago, the County’s Department of Emergency Management purchased freezers that will ensure COVID-19 vaccines are preserved at the required low temperature.
Several criteria are being used to locate the sites: proximity to public transportation, equitable access and geographic diversity.
The initial weeks of the vaccination effort are estimated to cost $4 million, which is expected to be reimbursed by state or federal funding sources. Council will consider an emergency budget request at its 3 p.m. meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
‘We’re getting sick, and we’re dying.’ Grocery workers seek return of hazard pay
A grocery union on Thursday organized public events to draw attention to its calls for hazard pay for workers as it heads into negotiations with Fred Meyer.
UFCW Local 367 used a digital mobile truck displaying hazard pay messages to visit eight stores in Pierce and Thurston counties ahead of negotiations. Workers were at stores to describe their frustrations as front-line workers during the pandemic.
“We didn’t join the Army, you know? We didn’t join the FBI. We signed up to be grocery workers, and all of a sudden, we’re thrust thrust into a global pandemic. And we’re on the front lines, and we’re getting sick, and we’re dying, and our families are getting sick, and some are dying,” said UFCW 367 president Angel Gonzalez in an interview Thursday with The News Tribune.
“And it doesn’t seem to register for employers that we need safe working conditions, and we also need hazard pay.”
A Fred Meyer representative did not respond to questions over the hazard pay issues Thursday.
“When we got it, it was $2 per hour. So it’s not a very large amount of money by any means,” Gonzalez said. “It’s not going to help us to become rich, by any means. But it certainly makes it a little less painful. And shows that our employers recognize that we have value and they show us some respect.”
Other incentives, he said, were offered instead.
“You know, $30 here, a little discount there. Some gift cards that I can only use at my employer is sometimes worse than nothing. ... And you’re going to make profit off of that money because I can only purchase goods in your store,” Gonzalez said. “So it just, it doesn’t seem to register with these employers that we are sacrificing our families. We’re sacrificing our health.”
Tacoma kids are headed back to school. Is the district prepared to keep them COVID free?
Sitting at a desk in a classroom at Mary Lyon Elementary on Tuesday, fourth grader Tristan Hopkins said he prefers to learn at school rather than at home.
He got straight to the point.
“I hate this coronavirus, and I just want to be in normal school,” he said.
Hopkins is one of about 20 students currently attending school in-person at Mary Lyon Elementary in Tacoma.
Tacoma Public Schools has been operating schools since October for more than 700 students needing special education services, in accordance with state COVID-19 guidelines.
Now, the district is preparing for a new group to arrive: kindergarten students.
TPS announced in December kindergarten students would return for face-to-face instruction starting Jan. 19 in cohorts of up to 15 students. Preschool students will return on Jan. 25 and first and second graders on Feb. 8. The district said it expects to announce plans to phase in grades 3-5 in early 2021.
As for middle and high school students, the district said it is in the process of making recommendations for middle and high school and hopes to finalize those plans soon.
Kindergarten students will attend two days a week. In February, that will shift to four days a week if COVID-19 case counts drop below 350 cases per 100,000 people over a two-week period.
Changes to state guidance in December lowered the threshold for schools to return to in-person learning. High COVID-19 activity now is defined as a county having 350 or more COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people over a 14-day period, rather than 75 cases.
High-activity counties can phase in in-person learning in groups of 15 or fewer students for pre-K through grade 5 and students with highest needs. The state recognized that national and statewide data showed that while cases and outbreaks do occur in schools, transmission of COVID-19 has been “limited in the school setting.”
Pierce County is a high-activity county at 399.2 cases per 100,000 people as of six days ago, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. The six-day lag allows for accuracy.
The district said it used a number of factors when developing its reopening plans, including revised guidance from the state Department of Health and OSPI around in-person learning and the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in school environments.
“That guidance is based on experience nationally over the last few months that shows when students and staff follow safety protocols, such as wearing a face covering, washing hands regularly and staying six feet apart, transmission of COVID-19 in schools is limited,” Nora Doyle, facilities communications coordinator for the district, said in an email.
Tacoma libraries will halt services for 2 weeks due to budget shortfall. Here’s when
Due to a budget shortfall, Tacoma library services will halt for two weeks in 2021.
Tacoma Public Library (TPL) announced Wednesday that the first week libraries will be closed is Feb. 21-28.
The second week will be Nov. 28 to Dec. 5.
“The closure dates were selected during weeks when library usage is historically low, in order to minimize impact on the public,” TPL stated in a press release.
TPL leaders sounded the alarm in October when they found they were facing a $2 million budget deficit and cuts of 22 staff positions.
An amendment to the budget by Tacoma City Council in November decreased that deficit to $1 million. The amendment prevented layoffs, but to make up the deficit, TPL staff agreed to take two weeks of unpaid furlough each year of the 2021–2022 biennium.
The furloughs equate to a 4 percent reduction in pay for both years.
The library’s eight branches are currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but curbside pick-up is available and book drops are open 24/7.
During the week-long closures, these curbside services will not be available. All book drops will be locked and closed.
No materials will be due during the closures.
Biden releases economic plan with $1,400 stimulus checks, boosted unemployment benefits
Qualifying Washington residents would see additional stimulus payments of $1,400, and unemployed residents would have their payments boosted by $400 weekly through September, under an economic plan unveiled Thursday by President-elect Joe Biden.
Biden, who will be sworn in as the nation’s 46th president on Wednesday, has vowed to make his economic and pandemic relief package a top priority. He pledged to get $2,000 in stimulus payments to Americans last month when President Donald Trump signed a smaller economic relief packs sending $600 checks to most households.
Biden’s $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” also includes aid for businesses, state and local governments and schools and colleges.
He’ll have a decent chance of winning passage of key elements of the plan, since the Senate will be controlled by Democrats after he takes office. The House already has a Democratic majority.
While at least one Democrat in the Senate, Joe Manchin from West Virginia, has said he will oppose completing the additional stimulus checks for individuals, officials in the Biden administration said they had based the plan on extensive conversations with members of Congress, and held out confidence that it could be passed with bipartisan support.
In a briefing with reporters, a senior Biden administration official said the plan includes “finishing the job and delivering the $2,000 in direct support to Americans,” and “extending and expanding unemployment benefits so that those who are out of work and looking for a job can have some stability as they do.”
Qualified Washington residents are already receiving, or will soon get, a $600 federal stimulus as a result of an economic aid package approved last month. The $1,400 would bring the total to $2,000.
Craig Sailor, Allison Needles, Debbie Cockrell, Josephine Peterson, David Lightman and Michael Wilner contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 8:12 AM with the headline "Coronavirus updates: Pierce County plans mass vaccination rollout; Tacoma kids headed back to school."
