Vaccine demand wanes as a dozen counties are threatened with more COVID-19 restrictions
Any changes to counties’ phases in the state’s “Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery” plan will be announced Tuesday, said Gov. Jay Inslee, as the state battles a fourth wave of the pandemic.
“A dozen or so” counties are at risk of moving to or staying in Phase 2 of the state’s three-phase reopening plan, said Lacy Fehrenbach, deputy director for COVID-19 response at the state Department of Health. Some have metrics that could push them into Phase 1, she said.
Moving down a phase means tighter restrictions.
“Certainly, our hope is that as few move back as possible. We really want to be on a forward path,” Fehrenbach said.
In recent days, health officials and news reports in counties such as King, Spokane, and Snohomish have warned that those areas were failing benchmarks necessary to stay in the least-restrictive Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan.
Counties have to miss two metrics to backslide. The metrics associated with each phase for counties with at least 50,000 residents are:
Phase 3: fewer than 200 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people over two weeks and fewer than five new COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 people over one week;
Phase 2: between 200 and 350 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks and between five and 10 new hospitalizations per 100,000 over one week; and
Phase 1: 350 or more new cases per 100,000 over two weeks and 10 or more new hospitalizations per 100,000 over one week.
The metrics differ for smaller counties.
When a county moves from Phase 3 to Phase 2, indoor occupancy at restaurants, retail stores, gyms, and worship services is restricted by half, from 50% to 25%. To advance to a less-restrictive phase, a county has to meet both of that phase’s metrics.
The entire state was placed in Phase 3 of the state’s plan on March 22. Tuesday’s evaluation will be the state’s second since the current version of the reopening plan has been in place.
Three counties — Cowlitz, Pierce, and Whitman — fell back to Phase 2 after the first evaluation in mid-April.
Any phase changes announced Tuesday will take effect Saturday, according to Governor’s Office spokesperson Tara Lee.
Evaluations were originally scheduled for Mondays. Next week’s is on Tuesday, according to state Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah, so the state can use the most timely data available that comes in Friday and over the weekend.
Cases surging, vaccine demand slowing
The state has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in recent weeks. Inslee on Thursday attributed the surge to virus variants that can be more contagious and may cause more severe illness.
“This is not your grandmother’s COVID,” Inslee said. “This is a new form of COVID, a mutant strain that today has caused a fourth wave, a fourth surge that we are in the middle of, that is threatening the health of Washingtonians.”
If trends continue, hospitals are in danger of becoming overwhelmed, he said. He encouraged residents to continue taking public health precautions and for people to get vaccinated. Beyond the obvious benefit of protection against the virus, vaccines are a way to eventually eliminate the need for masks, he emphasized.
“I’m not asking people to listen to the governor, I’m asking them to listen to the facts here,” Inslee said. “And the facts are … If we don’t want our hospitals to be overrun, we need to continue to do what we know works. And that is to get ourselves vaccinated.”
More than 5.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Washington state as of the latest available state Department of Health data. Nearly 42% of Washington residents have gotten at least one shot, and nearly 29% were fully vaccinated.
The state has seen a slowdown in demand for the vaccine, however, which Inslee called “very concerning.”
“It is a terrible thing to think that we would have vaccine to save people’s lives and not see it in people’s arms,” Inslee said.
There will soon be more benefits to getting a vaccine, Inslee said.
Among them, there will be new guidelines in May for cruise ships to host cruises where everyone who can be vaccinated has gotten the vaccine. He expects more colleges to go the way of Washington State University, which is requiring proof of vaccination from students and staff.
He also foreshadowed new guidelines related to vaccinated people at spectator events, sports, performing arts, and school graduations, as well as for religious organizations.
“If you want to be with a group of people at the Mariners games, you’re going to be able to do that,” he said, “whereas if you’re not vaccinated, you won’t be able to do that.”
The state also is shifting the way it allocates doses because of changes in demand, he said.
It will now be driven mostly by providers’ orders, according to Fehrenbach, while making sure there’s access to vaccines across the state and working with local health officials to prioritize orders. Previously, the state was primarily allocating vaccines on a pro-rata basis.
“This is under our control,” Inslee said. “We are simply not helpless here. Obviously, it is most disturbing for anyone to have to go backward in this after all we have gone through. We have victory within sight with this vaccine.”
Editor’s note: This story originally included that changes announced Tuesday would go into effect Friday. However, McClatchy later learned the changes will take effect Saturday, to mirror the moving of the evaluation day.
This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Vaccine demand wanes as a dozen counties are threatened with more COVID-19 restrictions."
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