Coronavirus Update January 20, 2021
Another 1,373 coronavirus cases and 37 deaths have been reported in Washington, bringing the total number of diagnoses to 291,989, including 3,940 deaths, according to the state Department of Health. 16,642 people have been hospitalized in Washington due to the virus. We are at 80.5% hospital ICU inventory and a 10% positivity rate Nationally are have hit 24.3 million cases, up 185K since yesterday. We’ve lost 402,000 up to 2,770 yesterday.
Where are we now with the vaccination rollout in Washington State?
On Monday Governor Jay Inslee announced his new public-private partnership the Washington State Vaccine Command and Coordination Center which has a goal of administering 45,000 vaccinations a day. That is about triple the current rate of vaccination and would require more doses than we are currently getting from the federal government which is about 100,000 doses a week. To hit herd immunity we need more than 70% of Washingtonians to become vaccinated which will take over 7 months to achieve this ambitious daily dose goal. As of Monday, 1.5 million Washingtonians are now eligible to be vaccinated under phase 1B Tier 1
Who is in the WSVCCC and what are they doing to support the vaccination rollout?
Stakeholder holders and their responsibilities include:
Kaiser Permanente: planning expertise for mass vaccination clinics and the distribution of vaccine to healthcare providers throughout the state.
Starbucks: operational efficiency, scalable modeling and human-centered design expertise and support.
Microsoft: technology expertise and support.
Costco: vaccine delivery by pharmacies.
SEIU 1199NW: coordination of volunteer vaccinators to locations where they are most needed.
UFCW 21: staffing and training coordination of vaccinators.
WSNA: safety and health consultation for providers.
SeaMar: voice for historically underserved communities
National Guard: logistics and infrastructure support
I’m eligible, now what?
If you are eligible for the vaccine under Phase 1B tier 1 go to findyourphasewa.org and register. You need to print and keep your confirmation. Head to the Department of Health’s website to find vaccination sites near you. This list is always changing as new sites are added and sites move locations. You will have to follow the instructions for each site on how to get your appointment. You can also check your local health system for information on if they are administering the vaccine. UW Medicine has recently announced they are administering the vaccine and provide detailed instructions on how to schedule an appointment.
It is important to remember we do not currently have enough vaccination sites to administer all the doses we have. As of this week we have administered about 43% of the 96,000 doses. Previous to the recent Coronavirus Relief bill passed we did not have Federal funding for the roll out and now that funding has been allocated it is still going to take time to get this very complex system set up. We have to be patient and kind to everyone working in this system.
