County goes green in new CDC risk status

Under the new guidelines and the easing of the Omicron spike, King County scores green — the lowest risk classification.

March 9, 2022 1:30 am
(Graphic courtesy VashonBePrepared) This table illustrates the new CDC risk-assessment procedure. The method first evaluates the number of new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days. Next, the method evaluates the level of severe COVID disease (new COVID admissions) and a county’s ability to treat those patients (percentage of staffed beds occupied by COVID patients). Because the new method no longer sets the risk level based on the number of new cases alone, a county may be at a low (green) or medium (yellow) risk level under the new method, while it would have been at a high-risk level under the old method.
(Graphic courtesy VashonBePrepared) This table illustrates the new CDC risk-assessment procedure. The method first evaluates the number of new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days. Next, the method evaluates the level of severe COVID disease (new COVID admissions) and a county’s ability to treat those patients (percentage of staffed beds occupied by COVID patients). Because the new method no longer sets the risk level based on the number of new cases alone, a county may be at a low (green) or medium (yellow) risk level under the new method, while it would have been at a high-risk level under the old method.

Editor’s note: Read COVID updates by VashonBePrepared in Spanish and English at tinyurl.com/yan39zeh.

New Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines have revised the national system of assessing community COVID risk. Under the new guidelines and the easing of the Omicron spike, King County scores green — the lowest risk classification.

The three-color scale sets yellow as medium risk and orange as the highest risk. Kitsap and Snohomish counties also rate green for COVID risk.

However, Pierce County — just to our south via the Tahlequah/Point Defiance ferry — has been in the orange high-risk category. Every day our ferries transport about one-third of the island’s population off-island, creating the potential for COVID exposures at work, school, medical appointments, and stores.

The data that drive the new national county-by-county risk estimates will be adjusted to reflect changing conditions of the pandemic over time. The ratings may reflect improvements in local conditions or worsening conditions, for example in case of a future spike.

The state’s Department of Health (DOH) has warned of a change coming in the next few weeks during a data quality check process. DOH has identified a discrepancy between the reporting data in the national CDC COVID tracker versus the state’s dashboard.

Therefore, DOH advises “the national tracker underestimates COVID-19 levels in some Washington counties.” It is not yet known which Washington counties might be moved into a different risk category.

Vashon Omicron cases still trending down

In line with the new CDC green low-risk rating for King County, the number of new COVID cases on Vashon dropped again in the most recent weekly reporting. In late February, the weekly new case count had been running around 15 to 20 patients per week. The latest tally (see statistics section below) shows a much lower new case rate. There were times during the January Omicron spike when the new case rate soared above 150 new cases per week.

New date: Indoor masking rollback

Most indoor masking requirements set by Washington state will end at midnight on March 11. The rollback date was initially set for March 21st, but the Governor moved the date forward following the release of the new CDC guidelines and the green rating for many Washington counties.

VashonBePrepared planning underway for post-Omicron

The VashonBePrepared coalition has started planning for this new post-Omicron phase of the pandemic. Operations and volunteer efforts will be reduced to match the new lower risk assessment. A key planning concept will be maintaining readiness to respond to community needs if the cycle of new variants and spikes repeats, as it did last June with Delta and in late December with Omicron. Plan details will be announced in upcoming newsletters.

Vaccination availability update

Vaccination availability on Vashon remains strong, a big difference from a year ago when the vaccine was scarce and providers were trying to respond to extremely high demand.

• Vashon Pharmacy: You can get your COVID vaccination at Vashon Pharmacy pretty much any day; simply sign up for an appointment and the vaccination takes place in the store. Register for your vaccination at vashonpharmacy.com/covid.

• Sea Mar at Sunrise Ridge: Sea Mar clinics, including the one on Vashon, offer COVID vaccines on a walk-in, first-come, first-served basis. That includes boosters. It’s a good idea to call the clinic first to check that your vaccine is being offered on the day of your visit: (206) 463-3671. There’s also a web page with vaccination information: www.seamar.org/covid-vaccine.

• Vashon Natural Medicine: Vaccination services are provided to Vashon Natural Medicine patients. Follow the usual process for getting care, including making appointments for an in-person visit.

• Off-Island Providers: Check with your healthcare provider for a vaccination appointment. All the major networks offer vaccination. In addition, many chain pharmacies vaccinate by appointment or, in some cases, on a drop-in basis.

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. Some 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.

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

6 = New cases reported since the last weekly report (11 new cases in 14 days).

12 = Patients hospitalized since the pandemic began.

4 = Deaths since the pandemic began.

92.6% = percentage of Vashon residents age 5+ who have been fully vaccinated, compared to 84.5% of the total King County 5+ population.

71.7% = percentage of vaccinated Vashon residents age 12+ with booster shots.

63.1% = percentage of Vashon residents aged 5 to 11 with first doses of vaccine (59.0% have completed the series).

81.7% = percentage of Vashon residents aged 12 to 17 with first doses of vaccine (76.5% have completed the series).

For King County, the PHSKC dashboard for the last 30 days says people who are not fully vaccinated are 2.5 times more likely to get COVID, 15 times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID and 29 times more likely to die of COVID.

For more resources, visit VashonBePrepared.org. Sign up at tinyurl.com/4smk364m to receive email updates from the group, and/or visit VashonBePrepared on Facebook.