More mass vaccination clinics, concern over variants, and an update on how Grays Harbor County is faring ahead of Gov. Jay Inslee’s announcement Monday regarding the state’s phased reopening plan were some of the key topics at a press conference Friday with Grays Harbor health officials.
Vaccines
With vaccines now available for anyone age 16 and older, Grays Harbor Public Health announced more first dose clinics at the mass vaccination site in the coming weeks.
“We are having a first dose clinic April 16” with 900 doses of Moderna vaccine, said Maranatha Hay, public health spokeswoman. Moderna is only approved for those age 18 and older.
A second dose clinic will be held April 17, said Hay, with 701 doses. She reminded those who are notified about their second dose appointments to schedule their appointment, as only enough vaccine for those who have set an appointment are made available for the clinic. Those who received their first dose will be notified of the clinic, it is then up to the recipient to follow through the scheduling process.
A link to the April 16 clinic went up Friday morning at healthygh.org/covid19-vaccine-appointment.
The plan had been to link all three first dose clinics Friday, but early Friday afternoon Hay reported, “Due to our allocations from the state this week, we will be postponing the scheduling of mass vaccination clinics taking place April 22 and 23.” Check with the page frequently, when clinics are available they will be posted on this page.
Hay pointed out the state Department of Health’s vaccine locator, vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov/. There you can punch in your zip code and vaccine locations and availability are provided with links to schedule appointments. The site is updated regularly. Friday, there were vaccine appointments available at Rite Aid and Sea Mar locations, among others.
Hay noted that about 20% of the state’s most vulnerable population, about 305,000 people, still have not been vaccinated. “As long as we have this many seniors unvaccinated we will continue to see these fatalities,” she said. “Each and every one of us can be advocates to them getting vaccines.” That can be talking to seniors in your family or circle of friends about their concerns about the vaccine, offering rides to appointments, etc.
The county recently surpassed 40,000 vaccinations given and Wednesday the total was 40,185. Hay said the number of people fully vaccinated has reached 23.07% in Grays Harbor County, above the state’s overall 19.98%. The number of those who have initiated vaccination, meaning had their first shot, is 31.36% in Grays Harbor County, in line with the state total of 31.39%.
Phasing
Monday marks three weeks since Gov. Jay Inslee announced the state would move into Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan; he will make an announcement that day about whether certain counties will remain in that phase, or move back to more restrictive rules regarding gatherings and business capacity. Hay said no county will be moving into Phase 4.
To remain in Phase 3, Grays Harbor County would need first to qualify under two “metrics:” The number of new cases per 100,000 population over two weeks, and new hospitalizations per 100,000 population over one week.
For new cases, “This number needs to be less than 200,” said Hay. The latest data Friday showed Grays Harbor County’s number at 113.3. “We’ve remained underneath this 200 metric for quite some time, for at least three weeks,” said Hay.
Things get more complicated with hospitalizations. While Grays Harbor has stayed below the five hospitalization benchmark for some time, other factors, like hospital capacity and staffing, can play into phase determination, said Hay. Public Health Director Michael McNickle said Friday he’d had a conversation with Summit Pacific Medical Center in Elma the day before and heard that they had “capacity.”
Bottom line in phasing is even Public Health won’t know the state’s determination until Monday morning, just before the governor goes public with his announcement. Just going by the numbers available, the county looks to be in good shape to remain in Phase 3 for another three weeks, but that won’t be known for certain until Monday afternoon.
Numbers
Hay said cases are rising in the state over the last two weeks, including four of the five largest counties. That includes “increases in younger people who can still get sick and die from COVID-19.” She said variants of COVID-19 are emerging, including one in Grays Harbor County, variant B. 1529, which Hay described as “a variant of concern.” The CDC calls a variant a “variant of concern” if it’s more transmissible or creates greater health issues.
During the week of April 1-April 7, 35 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Grays Harbor County, including 11 cases Wednesday. There was a death reported Wednesday, raising the total number of deaths to 58. Four hospitalizations were announced during the week.
Grays Harbor Public Health epidemiology branch director Krista Morris said Friday that case numbers among school age children have remained “very low” and most are getting COVID-19 through known sources of contact. A report dated March 12-25, said there were six total cases in children age 1-10 in the county; only one was attributed to community transmission, meaning transmitted by an unknown source. There were 11 cases that week reported among children age 11-19, again with just one from an unknown source.
Morris said that the majority of these cases are not linked and can be traced to contact within the household. She added there were no concerns with any certain schools “at this time.”
Quarantine center
The isolation and quarantine facility in Hoquiam, between the fire station and City Hall on 8th Street, finally opened March 31. The facility welcomed its first “guest” Friday, said Hay.
“The facility is split into two sections: isolation, for those who have tested positive for COVID-19; and quarantine for individuals exposed to COVID-19 and have not yet presented with symptoms or are waiting for test results,” said Hay. The isolation side can house 16 guests, the quarantine side eight.
“Our facility can also accommodate accompanied infants, toddlers and children,” said Hay. “Both sections of the facility contain ‘Family Rooms.’” For more information on the facility contact the resource center at 360-964-1850.
