May ends with a spike in Vashon’s surge of cases

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, June 1, 2022

For more than a month, the Vashon COVID surge was running at a steady pace, high but not accelerating. That changed last week with a spike in new cases.

One factor has been an increase in the number of cases among Vashon’s school-age youth. In the first few weeks of May, Vashon Island School District (VISD) had been averaging 32 to 34 cases per week. The weekly case count at the school district jumped by 75%, to 59 cases in the week ending May 27.

Last week’s cases were mostly coming from the Vashon High School population, a shift from earlier in May when most cases were being recorded at Chautauqua Elementary School. In all, the Vashon Island School District reported 133 student cases and 25 staff member cases for the month of May.

Please continue to help us track the level of COVID on Vashon by reporting your positive home tests to the Vashon Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) helpline: 844-469-4554. T

Boosters for kids now available

As reported last week, the CDC has authorized a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine for children 5- to 11-years old, administered at least five months after completing the two-dose primary series.

Vashon Pharmacy has opened appointment slots for these pediatric boosters on the vaccine appointment signup page, VashonPharmacy.com/COVID.

Sea Mar Clinic, at Sunrise Ridge, has limited capability for vaccinations at this time, so call ahead to see what’s available before showing up, at 206-463-3671.

Generally, Vashon has done better than most communities on youth vaccination, but the numbers still fall far below the percentage of adults who have protection from COVID. The Vashon MRC urges parents to get children vaccinated and, if they already have the two-shot initial series, to get the booster.

Kids do get sick — sometimes very sick

Throughout the pandemic, we repeatedly heard that COVID is mild in youth. For most kids, that’s true. But it’s not the whole story.

This point matters right now because we are still in another COVID Omicron surge. Keeping kids safe in masks and taking other safety measures prevents the spread of COVID to family members and play pals. Also, we are less than a month from summer play and travel season. It would be a shame to miss out on your long-awaited travel and gathering plans due to COVID illness, quarantine and isolation.

The Omicron spike in January, fueled by the BA.1 variant, infected far more youth than previous surges. At the peak, 1.15 million youth cases were reported in one week nationwide. Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina, the founder of the highly regarded “Your Local Epidemiologist” newsletter, compiled pediatric COVID statistics from the Omicron spike:

• More than 11,000 children were hospitalized in 25 states. Five times as many children ages 4 and younger were hospitalized compared to previous waves.

• Of the 5- to 11-year-olds hospitalized during the Omicron wave, 90% were unvaccinated, 30% did not have an underlying condition, and 20% went to intensive care units.

• Sadly, more than 1,500 children under 17 in the U.S. have died from COVID. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ranks COVID as one of the top 10 causes of death for children ages 5 to 11.

So far, we have been fortunate that no Vashon kids have been hospitalized or died. Youth vaccination could make a major difference in keeping it that way.

However, perhaps due to a perception that kids only get mildly ill from COVID, vaccination rates have been low. On Vashon, 58% of 5- to 11-year-olds are fully vaccinated and nearly 77% of 12- to 17-year-olds. Those are better vaccination percentages than national averages, but it still means that hundreds of Vashon kids have not been vaccinated.

“Summer vacation is almost here, and for many families, that means travel,” said Dr. Jim Bristow, co-leader of Vashon’s Medical Reserve Corps. “We can finish out this school year and look forward to COVID-safe summer adventures by putting together a prevention toolkit of vaccines, frequent testing, mask-wearing, and making the most of the summer months by gathering outside with friends and family. Boosters are now available for 5- to 11-year-olds, and soon vaccines are expected to be available for children aged 6 months to 5 years old. That will bring protection against serious disease to our youngest islanders for the first time.”

Myth Buster: Comparing Deaths from Flu and COVID Deaths

We occasionally hear the claim that COVID is no worse than the flu. One glance at this comparison of deaths from flu and COVID (see accompanying graphic) makes it clear that COVID has been catastrophic compared to even the worst recent flu season.

Latest Vashon COVID Statistics

Source: Public Health — Seattle & King County (PHSKC) and Vashon EOC. PHSKC adjusts statistics from time to time as data is refined during its quality control processes. These statistics may not include all recent Vashon cases, due to the lag in posting of data to PHSKC. Home testing data may also be missing because there is no comprehensive system to collect it. Hospitalizations may include some patients who tested positive for COVID on admission for other reasons.

34= New cases reported since the last weekly report (33 new cases in 14 days).

927 = Total COVID cases for Vashon residents since the pandemic began.

15 = Patients hospitalized since the pandemic began.

5 = Deaths since the pandemic began.

93.6% = percentage of Vashon residents age 5+ who have completed the primary series, compared to 85.9% of the King County 5+ population.

66.0% = percentage of Vashon residents age 5+ who have added a booster shot to their completed primary series.

For King County, the PHSKC dashboard for the last 30 days says people who are not fully vaccinated are 1.2 times more likely to get COVID, 7 times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID and 13 times more likely to die of COVID.