Editor’s Note: Read COVID Updates by VashonBePrepared in Spanish and English at tinyurl.com/yan39zeh.
Public Health: New Disease Peak Projected, Three Times Previous Record
Local public health leaders have warned the people of King County: “It’s here and it’s moving fast,” according to King County health officer Dr. Jeff Duchin. “The Omicron outbreak we’re talking about is no longer theoretical.” At a news conference last week, the experts urged everyone to take steps now to reduce risk and impact on businesses, schools, and key infrastructure, such as transportation services.
COVID Response Team Issues Appeal for Holiday Safety
The island’s COVID Response Team sent a letter to the Vashon community last week — foreshadowing the prediction by Public Health of a new record COVID Peak. The appeal was titled: “COVID Safety Matters Now More than Ever.”
The appeal acknowledged Vashon for its “incredible community effort” in making Vashon a “bright spot of COVID safety.” It then asked everyone to pull together to keep it that way, to deal with a new wave of COVID concerns including the high school COVID outbreak with some likely Omicron cases, the arrival of fast-spreading Omicron, coupled with an already rising case count from the Delta variant. The COVID Response Team’s letter pointed out that the new wave arrives just when the holiday season brings many people together for celebrations, a time when COVID could spread and jeopardize family members who are seniors or immunocompromised.
The COVID Response Team listed easy, basic steps to stay safe during the holidays. “Get your most important protection by getting vaccinated and getting your booster shot. Just this week, the CDC concluded that three shots of Pfizer or Moderna will protect you against severe illness from Omicron. Limit the size of gatherings. Mask. Wash hands. Keep your distance. Test if you have any symptoms. Do home rapid tests immediately before gathering.”
The appeal was signed by five leaders of the Vashon Medical Reserve Corps, the President of VashonBePrepared, and the Manager of the Vashon Emergency Operations Center. You can read the entire appeal letter at conta.cc/321xqIE.
Update: COVID Outbreak at Vashon High School
As school was going into winter break, ten students had been confirmed to have COVID. About 45% of the high school student population had been checked for COVID in a mass testing operation for the roughly 225 students and a few staff members who have been identified as close contact exposures of the ten cases. The mass testing with rapid antigen technology revealed some additional potential cases, and PCR testing has been done for confirmation purposes before adding those individuals to the case total.
Eight of the ten confirmed COVID cases are members of the high school wrestling teams. The other two infected students are believed to have contracted COVID from wrestlers. In addition, the MRC has traced three community cases to exposure from infected students, including some family household members.
All of the infected wrestling team members participated in wrestling tournaments on the weekend of December 4th. However, contact tracing continues as experts work to firm up the infection path for those individuals. A multi-district girls’ wrestling tournament at a Puyallup school has been identified among four problematic tournaments that have generated a large number of COVID infections. However, the Vashon High School boys participated in a tournament in Auburn that is not on the list of four tournaments that the state Department of Health recently announced have led to more than 80 COVID cases around the state.
All high school wrestling activities have been suspended, including practices and participation in competitions. As the number of wrestling-connected cases climbed, the School District quarantined all members of the wrestling team and their household siblings from school, as a precaution.
The number of cases in the outbreak, along with a large number of close contact exposures, makes this the most significant outbreak event on Vashon since the pandemic began. The high number of cases may be explained by the wrestling team exposures. The high number of close contact exposures stems from the high school class pattern, where students move through multiple classrooms per day, potentially exposing more students in each additional classroom they attend.
All of the student and staff close contacts have been notified by the District. Anyone not already notified is not considered a potential close contact exposure. Vashon Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) has fully activated its contact tracing and testing teams.
MRC needs your help to continue tracing efforts among families of students to contain the spread of the outbreak into the community. MRC urges families of students identified as potentially exposed close contacts to call the MRC helpline: (844)
Omicron: There’s Good News and Bad News
As the safety appeal pointed out, Omicron is believed to spread much faster than Delta. Most experts say it won’t be long before Omicron overtakes Delta as the dominant form of COVID across the county, judging from what’s happening in Europe and Africa. That’s the bad news.
The good news: Boosters provide a good level of protection. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading U.S. infectious disease advisor, said: “Our booster vaccine regimens work against Omicron.” He indicated there is no need for an Omicron-specific booster because protection against Omicron shot way up after a third dose after a waiting period following the first two doses. He urged everyone to get vaccinated and then get a booster shot.
Although there are some indications that Omicron results in milder disease, that’s not the same as no disease. It still has the potential to hospitalize or kill and make you feel very bad. There’s a particular danger for seniors and those with compromised immunity.
Vashon Community COVID Statistics
Source: Public Health — Seattle & King County (PHSKC) and Vashon EOC Note: These statistics do not include all recent Vashon cases due to lag in data posting to the PHSKC COVID dashboard.
259 = Total COVID cases for Vashon residents since the pandemic began.
11 = New cases since the last weekly report (15 new cases in 14 days)
8 = Patients hospitalized since the pandemic began.
4 = Deaths since the pandemic began.
92.4% = Vashon residents age 12 and above fully vaccinated. (Compares to 85.5% of the total King County 12+ population.)
56.9% = 5 to 11-year olds with first doses of vaccine
For King County, the PHSKC dashboard says unvaccinated people are seven times more likely to get COVID, 35 times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID, and 40 times more likely to die of COVID.
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