Pandemic is 'substantial, but holding steady' in King County

The week of April 15 was an eventful one during the pandemic in Washington state.

Governor Jay Inslee warned of a possible fourth wave. The state paused the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And everyone 16 and older became eligible for a Covid vaccine.

KUOW’s Kate Walters discussed the state of the pandemic in Washington with Kim Malcolm.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Kim Malcolm: King County's Public Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin warned us weeks ago that cases were going up. Where we stand now?

Kate Walters: We're seeing a break in the rough weather, so to speak.

Dr. Duchin said on Friday: “After a recent rise, cases and hospitalizations are substantial, but holding steady.”

We're looking at about 290-plus new cases reported daily. That has remained relatively stable over the last couple of weeks.

Does that mean that we're going to avoid a fourth wave?

That's not really something we can say for sure. Dr. Duchin has said multiple times we can't really predict what's going to happen with this virus. What we can say is that even though we're seeing this plateau, cases still aren't going down.

Dr. Duchin was saying today that we remain at risk of a worsening outbreak in the coming weeks. He's attributing these recent increases in cases and hospitalizations to things like opening up more activities and the presence of these more infectious variant strains.

He says people need to be cautious, even though we're getting more people vaccinated. So keep doing the things you've been doing: wear your mask, limit activities with people outside your household who aren't vaccinated, and avoid crowded indoor spaces.

This was a big week when it comes to vaccinations, emotional for many of us. How is that effort actually going?

It's a real milestone. It’s a moment we've all been waiting for. One of the big takeaways from what I'm hearing this week is people, unfortunately, are going to have to be pretty patient.

Dr. Duchin said today that King County is expecting about two-thirds to three-quarters of what they were previously receiving in recent weeks. He expects that that is going to remain the level of supply that we'll get for at least a couple of weeks.

The bottom line is people are going to have to be a bit patient to be able to get that shot.

But, we do know that people want them. We're seeing lots of people getting vaccines, and as of Friday, the city of Seattle had more than 151,000 people on their appointment notification list. So, definitely a lot of interest.

Washington followed CDC recommendations this week and paused the use of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Who is that going to hit the hardest?

As a one-dose shot, that was really something people were using as a tool for populations that the two-dose regimen could be an issue for. For example, Johnson & Johnson doses were being prioritized in King County for people experiencing homelessness. Dr. Duchin said today, the county isn't canceling any of the vaccine visits they had scheduled at homeless service sites because of this pause. They're just going to offer Moderna instead.

That raises the question of what does that mean for the second shot for folks who may not stay in the same place every night, or who might be experiencing crisis and may not be able to schedule themselves for that second visit? Overall, though, Johnson & Johnson is a really small portion of the supply of vaccines in our state. State officials are saying it's less than 6% of the shots that we've been receiving.

What are you watching moving forward?

We're definitely waiting to see what's going to happen with the Johnson & Johnson shot, whether that's reapproved. Dr. Duchin said today he hopes and expects it will be back in use soon. If that's the case, I'm really interested to see how is that received after the pause?

I'll also be watching just to see how this rollout goes now that everyone 16 and up is eligible. And of course, we want to keep an eye on this fourth wave as the weather is better and people are out doing more things.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.