Updated news about the coronavirus pandemic in Seattle and Washington state.
According to data from King County and Washington state departments of health, as of Tuesday, January 25, 2022:
- +4,783 new cases since Monday in King County. That’s -43% over the last seven days.
- +30 new hospitalizations since Monday in King County. That’s a 15% decrease over the past seven days.
- +95% increase in deaths, with six people dying every day in King County.
- 74.2% of King County residents are fully vaccinated.
- 10,458 Covid-19 related deaths across Washington state; 1% death rate since the beginning of the pandemic.
Hospitals remain under strain as omicron surges in eastern Washington, Idaho
Several indicators point to the slowing spread of omicron across western Washington in recent weeks. The rate of increase for new Covid cases and hospitalizations is dropping in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties.
But the outlook is much different in eastern Washington, where omicron is still surging. Hospitalizations there have roughly doubled within two weeks.
Moreover, hospitals in eastern Washington face the prospect of caring for patients from southern Idaho, where crisis standards of care were declared on Monday.
“Any patient who comes to the emergency department must be screened and stabilized – it’s a federal law requirement,” said Taya Briley, vice president and general counsel for the Washington State Hospital Association on Tuesday. “And as a result, if an individual from Idaho presents on their own to a Washington emergency department, they cannot be turned away. So we are certain that crisis standards will spread north.”
Jeannie Eylar, chief nursing officer at Pullman Regional Hospital, said her facility is already being impacted.
“Our house supervisors are getting about three to five calls a day from other hospitals in Idaho or Washington, because they’re looking for a bed,” Eylar said.
Hospitals in western Washington must also brace for the possibility of caring for patients outside of their localities, from the eastern side of the state, Briley said.
Read more here.
—Liz Brazile, KUOW
Two cases of “stealth omicron” (BA.2) detected in Washington state
Washington’s Department of Health confirmed with KOMO News that two cases of a new omicron subvariant — titled BA.2 — have been detected in Washington state.
Not as much is known about this new subvariant, but some call it “stealth omicron,” because it can go undetected by some PCR tests. It can be detected through genomic sequencing.
Dr. George Diaz is an infectious disease specialist with Providence Medical Center. He commented about the new subvariant at a Tuesday morning briefing for the Washington State Hospital Association.
“It’s been reported in numerous countries …” Dr. Diaz said. “We know very little at this point in terms of the sort of outcomes and what will happen next. But at first glance, it appears that it’s not causing worse disease than the original omicron variant, which I think is probably good news. But it’s far too early to know if BA.2 will cause surges down the road. We just don’t know that, and our state is doing sequencing. So hopefully we’ll have some data about what the current rate of progression has been.”
So far, BA.2 has spread through parts of Asia and Europe. About 100 cases have been detected in the United States.
— Dyer Oxley & Liz Brazile, KUOW