Washington state and local health officials on Tuesday gave the public what was essentially an ultimatum: Take the necessary steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 or we’ll have to revisit a return to more stringent social and economic restrictions.
“There has been an accelerated growth in cases in the past two weeks,” said Dr. Kathy Lofy, Washington’s state health officer, during an online briefing. The rise is being seen in Western and Eastern Washington and among all age groups. “Ideally we should all stop socializing for the next several weeks,” Lofy said.
Hospital admissions are increasing, and health officials are particularly anxious about the Thanksgiving holiday, which is a little more than two weeks away. Canada celebrated its Thanksgiving Oct. 12 and in many places, more COVID cases followed.
In Western Washington, the number of new COVID cases has been rising since mid-September, growing from a seven-day average of 196 cases on Sept. 12 up to 548 cases on Oct. 29, according to the latest state reports.
In total, more than 120,000 cases have been confirmed, 9,092 people hospitalized and 2,482 have died from COVID in Washington.
Health officials are in regular communication with area hospitals to understand patient capacity and staffing levels. In King County, where Seattle is located, the rate of COVID hospitalizations this week are up 30% over last week while the 7-day average for positive cases are hitting record highs.
If the novel coronavirus creates a strain in the healthcare system, that can impact not only services for people sick from the pandemic, but care for children, women delivering babies, cancer patients and others. Hospitals are working on contingency plans should COVID create a spike in demand.
“We are deeply concerned about an impending crisis,” said Dr. Christopher Spitters, health officer for the Snohomish Health District, located north of Seattle.
Officials on Tuesday reminded people again to wear masks when leaving home, and to keep their social interactions brief, outdoors, masked, distanced and limited to no more than five different people per week. They advised socializing that is “safer, smaller and smarter.” The state has a guide for safer gatherings here.
Despite the increase in cases, some Washington schools are bringing kids back to the classroom, starting with the youngest children first. Officials participating in the briefing said they were not seeing signs that schools were playing a role in boosting infection rates.
To support healthcare workers, schools and economic activity, residents need to redouble their efforts to curb COVID, experts said. San Francisco leaders this week announced that restaurant dining rooms will close again at the end of the week, returning to outdoor dining, takeout and delivery only.
“There is a lot that each person in the state can do to help protect themselves, protect their families, protect their communities,” said David Postman, chief of staff for Gov. Jay Inslee. “And frankly, that is so much better for everybody than trying to shut down the economy.”
Nationwide, cases passed 10 million earlier this week as hospitalizations reach record highs.
A depressing day with 130,989 new cases, 61,964 current hospitalizations, and 1,347 new deaths. Cases and hospitalizations are at a record high. We expect deaths to increase in the weeks ahead. It's time to stand united against #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/cZeGoqZ6hC
— Ali H. Mokdad (@AliHMokdad) November 11, 2020
