Western Washington starting to see Omicron wave let up as Eastern Washington revs up
While Omicron cases are starting to slow down in the Puget Sound area, Washington state faces a few more tough weeks of elevated deaths and high numbers of hospitalizations, particularly in Eastern Washington.
In a Wednesday update provided to reporters, Dr. Scott Lindquist, state epidemiologist for communicable diseases with the state Department of Health, said Eastern Washington is seeing a rapid rise now.
Compared with Western Washington, “It looks very similar, it’s just about one to two weeks behind,” Lindquist said.
State Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah said that, particularly in Western Washington, “numbers have started to level off from what we were seeing during the holidays and the early part of January.”
He added that hospital systems remained “very busy,” as hospitalizations and deaths lag initial case counts.
“It’s a time likely where transfers from other states in the region or beyond are more difficult to accept,” Shah said.
Lindquist noted the decline was “very promising” and said for now officials are not concerned about Omicron’s subvariant.
“We don’t see any evidence of a new variant or increase in cases coming,” Lindquist said, “so I don’t think it’s a train at the end of the tunnel. I think it is truly a downward incidence of our cases.”
Also of note is that even with the high number of deaths reported in the latest wave, (Pierce County, for example, reported 64 deaths last week) the statewide death rate “does not appear to be as high as with the other variants,” Lindquist said. “But I’m concerned that we are in this gray area, and we’re going to see quite a few more deaths still reported.”
DOH reported that between Dec. 22 and Jan. 18, hospitalization rates for unvaccinated patients were five times higher for those ages 12-34, seven times higher for those 35-64 and eight times higher for those 65 and over, and a nine-times higher risk of death for those 65 and older who are unvaccinated.
The state released its latest report Wednesday.
Lindquist cautioned that “everyone who is saying, ‘Hey, look it’s great it’s getting better,’ it’s not ... We’re having between 50 and 70 deaths per day. So this is still a very significant pandemic at this point. It’s just got some signs of it going down.”
The state’s portal for taking orders for home tests resumed Tuesday after initial demand overwhelmed supply. Officials said Wednesday that more than 460,000 households have received or soon will receive tests with a goal to reach 740,000 households statewide.
“There is the possibility that we could expand this program further. It really just does depend on how we navigate supply chain challenges,” said Lacy Fehrenbach, deputy secretary for the COVID-19 response.
Requests for those tests can be made at www.sayyescovidhometest.org. Up to five free tests can be ordered per household, though a check of the site Wednesday afternoon showed supplies again exhausted.
Once received, if you do take a home test and get a positive result, that can be self-reported via the state’s COVID-19 hotline: 800-525-0127.
Additionally, the state still has a critical blood supply shortage, and officials implored healthy residents to donate at this time. To donate:
▪ Bloodworks Northwest: bloodworksnw.org/donate / 800-398-7888 / Locations in Olympia, Federal Way and others.
▪ Cascade Regional Blood Services: crbs.net / 877-242-5663 / Locations in Tacoma, Puyallup and Federal Way.
▪ American Red Cross: redcrossblood.org / 800-RED-CROSS / Go online or call for local blood drives.
The News Tribune’s Craig Sailor contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Western Washington starting to see Omicron wave let up as Eastern Washington revs up."
