Snohomish County will turn to yellow next time the CDC updates its COVID risk level map (Image Source: US Centers For Disease Control)
COVID cases and hospitalizations are rising in our area again, and that has one local health official calling on you to step up your protective and preventive measures.
COVID case numbers more than doubled in a week in Snohomish County, where the 7-day case rate has gone from 155 to 336 per-100-thousand people. That on its own puts the county in the CDC’s medium risk category, but County Health Officer, Doctor Chris Spitters, says if the hospitalization rate also keeps rising, it will also pass the medium risk threshold.
Spitters says he’s not requiring but recommending you resume protective measures, including vaccinations and boosters, with only 55% of people eligible for boosters in the county taking them. Doctor Spitters also says keep your gatherings small and outdoors or in well-ventilated spaces, avoid crowded indoor spaces. He says when you can’t, mask up. “Masks may not be required in all venues, but you can wear them by choice,” Spitters says, “They are an effective tool for disrupting transmission, and masks are most effective when their use is wide-spread.” He also says there will be ups and downs, but part of learning to live with COVID is learning to adapt quickly when another wave hits and not waiting until it’s too late to return to the measures we know can prevent virus spread and serious illness.
Spitters says hospitals remain stressed, so he says this is not only about protecting yourself. It’s about protecting hospital capacity so that people with COVID and non-COVID conditions can have access to the care they need. Spitters says one of the signals is ambulance offloading time, which is how long it takes to transfer a patient from their rig to a hospital and then get ready for another call. He says offloading times are getting longer, which is a sign things inside the hospitals and their emergency departments are more stressed.
