County's COVID rate trending down

Snohomish County’s COVID-19 case rate has trended downward for two weeks now, but remains at some of the highest levels it has ever been at.

There were 1,751 reported cases in the county in the week of Sept. 12-18, down from 2027 the week prior.

“We’re relieved to see the number of cases down slightly for the second week,” said Dr. Chris Spitters, Snohomish Health District health officer during a Sept. 21 press briefing.

The two-week daily case rage dropped to 447 cases per 100,000 residents, leaving it at a higher point in the county for any period except last December which reached up to 462 cases per 100,000 people.

“While we’re seeing a slight decline off of the peak, we’re still at a very high level of transmission,” said Spitters.

“Although the change in direction is hopeful, we’re not out of the woods,” he added.

Hospital space remains limited, but has improved a little.

“As of this morning there are still 102 hospital beds filled with COVID patients,” said Spitters. “That’s slightly lower, but not substantially lower than last week."

This high of a COVID case rate will continue to put pressure on the hospital system.

“Ongoing levels of transmission like this are not sustainable,” said Spitters. “Your efforts to mask up, keep your distance, get vaccinated and stay home if sick are our toolbox for getting down the other end of this, and is especially important for the healthcare system."

Vaccines remain one of the most important methods of preventing transmission.

“For the month of August, the [Snohomish County COVID] rate in the unvaccinated was 800 per 100,000 and in the vaccinated it was 200 per 100,000,” said Spitters.

The hospitalization rate was about five times as high for unvaccinated as well.

Vaccine mandates are coming because of the federal government, and County Executive Dave Somers expects Washington state may have tougher requirements.

“The federal government announced a mandate for vaccines and testing, and while it explicitly covered businesses with more than 100 employees, we are expecting the state Department of Labor & Industries to expand that to all organizations, not just businesses, with over 100 employees,” he said.

The county government expects they will lose some staff over the requirements.

The Snohomish Health District also continues to work with schools during their reopening.

“For every confirmed case there are an additional number of people who are close contacts who then have to quarantine,” said Spitters. “That includes more than 1,000 K-12 students who were quarantined last week."

During the week of Sept. 12 there were 367 confirmed or probable cases in schools, childcare or connected to youth sports.

“Our childcare and schools team have been inundated with cases,” said Spitters.

The Snohomish Health District staff works to handle quarantine for the incidents.

“There are just under 200,000 K-12 students in the county, so this is roughly 1 to 2 percent of students out because of quarantine,” he said.

The goal of the health district is to provide mitigation tactics so that children remain in in-person school this year, said Spitters.

Pfizer has begun the process of approving a version of their COVID vaccine for children between 5-years-old and 11-years-old.

“This is encouraging news and is something many of us are looking forward to,” said Spitters, however the FDA, the CDC advisory committee and the Western States Scientific Review Work Group still need to review Pfizer’s data and formulate their recommendations.

“It’s not time yet to call your child’s healthcare provider and make an appointment,” said Spitters.