HomeCorona Virus UpdatesCoronavirus daily news updates, Aug. 26: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world – The Seattle Times
Coronavirus daily news updates, Aug. 26: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world – The Seattle Times
Vaccine makers and health officials say research shows booster shots are effective in strengthening immune responses against severe COVID-19 infections, but the focus must be on convincing the 85 million unvaccinated Americans to get the shot.
There has been hope that the formal Food and Drug Administration approval of the Pfizer vaccine might convince some unvaccinated people to change their minds, but skepticism remains strong. Meanwhile, the latest employer to mandate the vaccine is also the largest: the U.S. military.
We’re updating this page with the latest news about the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the Seattle area, the U.S. and the world.
Click here to see previous days’ live updates and all our other coronavirus coverage, and here to see how we track the daily spread across Washington.
Virus surge breaks hospital records amid rising toll on kids
Intensive care units around the nation are packed with patients extremely ill with the coronavirus — even in places where hospitalizations have not yet reached earlier peaks.
The ICU units at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Georgia typically have room for 38 patients, and doctors and nurses may have only two or three people who are very sick, said Dr. Jyotir Mehta, medical director of the ICU. On Wednesday, the ICU had 50 COVID-19 patients alone, roughly half of them relying on ventilators to breathe.
“I don’t think we have experienced this much critical illness in folks, so many people sick at the same time,” Mehta said.
Nationwide, COVID-19 deaths are running at more than 1,100 a day, the highest level since mid-March, and new cases per day are averaging over 152,000, turning the clock back to the end of January. As of early this week, the number of people in the hospital with the coronavirus was around 85,000, a level not seen since early February.
The surge is largely fueled by the highly contagious delta variant among people who are unvaccinated. In areas where vaccination rates are particularly low, doctors have pleaded with their communities to get inoculated to spare overburdened hospitals.
Health officials have also sounded the alarm about the growing toll of the variant on children and young adults.
Oregon school district protests COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates
A school board in central Oregon, where COVID-19 is surging, has passed a resolution protesting statewide mandates that require masks in schools and vaccines for all teachers, staff and volunteers.
The resolution that passed on a 3-2 vote in Redmond on Wednesday says the 7,500-student district will fight to regain local control of decisions around mask-wearing and vaccines in its schools The resolution specifies that the board supports the district using medical and religious exemptions to avoid the mandates and includes the possibility of legal action against Democratic Gov. Kate Brown.
Board members said Wednesday during debate over the resolution that the district will follow Brown’s mask and vaccine mandates while they pursue legal challenges.
Brown said Wednesday she is deploying hundreds of “medical crisis teams” from a staffing agency to hospitals besieged by COVID-19 patients, including hospitals in Redmond and nearby Bend.
Yakima Board of Health urges Inslee to reconsider vaccination mandate
The Yakima Health District’s Board of Health wants Gov. Jay Inslee to back down on his vaccination mandate.
After much discussion Wednesday, the health board approved a motion asking Inslee to consider alternatives such as weekly testing rather than an outright vaccination mandate.
Under the mandate, all state employees and those working in health care and in-person school settings must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18.
The mandate was prompted by a reluctance among some Washington residents to get vaccinated, as well as the spread of the new and highly contagious delta variant, which has led to a resurgence in cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
On Wednesday, 63 people were hospitalized in Yakima County because of the virus, said Melissa Sixberry, the health district’s director of disease control.
Anti-parasite drug’s use at Arkansas jail sparks probe
The Arkansas Medical Board is investigating reports that inmates at a county jail were prescribed the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to combat COVID-19 even though it hasn’t been approved to treat the coronavirus.
Board Director Amy Embry on Thursday declined to elaborate on the panel’s investigation, which she said began in the last two days. Embry said the investigation came in response to multiple complaints related to news reports about the use of ivermectin at the Washington County jail.
Washington County’s sheriff confirmed Tuesday night that jail inmates had been prescribed ivermectin, but did not say how many. It wasn’t clear if all the inmates who were prescribed the medication had tested positive for COVID-19.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved ivermectin for use by people and animals for some parasitic worms, head lice and skin conditions. The FDA has not approved its use in treating or preventing COVID-19 in humans.
Sturgis motorcycle rally linked to more than 100 coronavirus infections amid delta variant’s spread
More than 100 coronavirus infections have been linked to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, an annual event that drew hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts to South Dakota as the virus’s ferocious delta variant spread misery nationwide.
Health officials in South Dakota, where the rally was held from Aug. 6 to 15, said contact tracing has connected 16 cases to the event. North Dakota identified 40 cases, while Wyoming confirmed 32, Wisconsin tallied 20 and Minnesota counted 13.
The 121 cases among the five states almost certainly represent an undercount because the rally concluded less than two weeks ago and contact tracing is challenging in connection with an event that lures attendees from around the country.
These cases are an echo of an outbreak from a year ago, during the pandemic’s first summer, when the rally was thought to have seeded hundreds of infections and contributed to a surge in the Upper Midwest.
Texas governor issues order banning local vaccine mandates
Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order on Wednesday banning any state or local mandates requiring people to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and he called on Texas legislators to vote it into law during their current special session.
The move came as Texas reported the most COVID-19 patients in its hospitals since the pandemic began.
Abbott issued his ban in an executive order to fill a loophole left by the full authorization of the Pfizer vaccine. He had previously banned the requirement of vaccinations under emergency use authorizations. He also has banned state and local government mandates for wearing masks.
Thousands of COVID patients are being turned away from Japan’s hospitals
Japan’s worst COVID-19 outbreak yet has thrown a spotlight on the inability of the country’s otherwise highly regarded medical system to adapt quickly to emergencies and its lack of reform to meet such needs.
As new cases surged to more than 25,000 a day this month driven by the delta variant, the number of medical emergencies nationwide that required an ambulance dispatch, but had difficulty finding a hospital to accept the patient, rose for six straight weeks to a historic high, according to data from Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
Defined as cases where emergency medics were turned down by more than 3 hospitals and at the scene for more than 30 minutes, the figure jumped to 3,361 in the week of August 9-15, said the agency that oversees the ambulance system nationally. The case number ticked down slightly last week, but was still the third-highest ever recorded in Japan. About half the patients were suspected of having COVID-19.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose for the first time in five weeks even though the economy and job market have been recovering briskly from the coronavirus pandemic.
Jobless claims edged up by 4,000 to 353,000 from a pandemic low 349,000 a week earlier, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, fell by 11,500 to 366,500 — lowest since mid-March 2020 when the coronavirus was beginning to slam the United States.
The weekly count has fallen more or less steadily since topping 900,000 in early January as the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines helped the economy. However, a resurgence of cases linked to the highly contagious delta variant has clouded the economic outlook.
A Hungarian orchestra conductor received a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot onstage during a free open-air concert in Budapest on Wednesday as part of an effort to encourage people to get vaccinated.
Budapest Festival Orchestra conductor Ivan Fischer removed his jacket to reveal a white dress shirt with a hole cut out of the sleeve. As he kept his baton moving and the orchestra played on, a doctor administered the shot, Fischer’s third dose, to applause from the crowd.
The carefully choreographed action was an attempt to “further raise awareness of the need for vaccination” in Hungary, the orchestra’s managing director, Orsolya Erdodi, said.
Hungary has enjoyed a comparative summer reprieve from the COVID-19 pandemic after a devastating spring, when the country for a time had the world’s highest number of virus deaths per capita.
While confirmed cases and deaths are down, the vaccination rate also has slowed dramatically. Hungary was an early vaccination leader, using doses from Russia and China as well as ones procured through the European Union to conduct one of the EU’s fastest immunization campaigns.
Delta’s extra $200 insurance fee shows vaccine dilemma for employers
For weeks, big employers like Citigroup, Google and The Walt Disney Co. have been warming to the idea of requiring coronavirus vaccines for employees. Now that one vaccine has received full federal approval, President Joe Biden wants more to follow suit.
Delta Air Lines has chosen a very different tack. The company on Wednesday became the first large U.S. employer to embrace an idea that has been widely discussed but is mired in legal uncertainty: charging unvaccinated employees more for health insurance.
Starting Nov. 1, Delta employees who have not received the vaccine will have to pay an additional $200 per month to remain on the company’s health plan. It is part of a series of requirements that unvaccinated workers will face in the months to come, the airline’s chief executive, Ed Bastian, said in a memo to staff.
Every Delta employee who has been hospitalized because of the coronavirus in recent weeks was not yet fully vaccinated, with hospital stays costing the company an average of about $50,000. Like most large employers, Delta insures its own workforce, meaning it pays health costs directly and hires an insurance company to administer its plans.
Omak Stampede gathering leads to more than 24 COVID cases
More than two dozen people who attended the Omak Stampede earlier this month have tested positive for COVID-19.
Okanogan County health officials on Wednesday urged anyone who attended the four-day rodeo, which took place Aug. 12-15 in Omak, to watch for COVID-19 symptoms. The caution also applies to people who have been in close contact with someone who attended, the health district said in a news release.
COVID-19 symptoms to watch for include fever, scratchy throat, headache, cough, diarrhea, chills, loss of taste or sense of smell and body aches, nausea or vomiting, or shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If someone who attended the event has symptoms, the health district asks that they get tested and self-quarantine until test results are confirmed as negative.
Washington COVID vaccine rule stresses long-term care facilities struggling to keep staff
As a traveling certified nursing assistant, Amelia Thornton has encountered all types of opinions about the COVID-19 vaccine among workers in Eastern Washington long-term care facilities.
Some workers got the vaccine — as she did — as soon as it became available to long-term care staff. Others, despite evidence of the vaccine’s effectiveness, remain hesitant, wanting to learn more about what’s in the shot. And she’s heard from a few who say, now that they will be required to be vaccinated, they plan to switch careers.
“I honestly wouldn’t blame them, if they are not making significantly more money than you would at a Walmart or something,” said Thornton, who lives in Quincy, Grant County. “There is just so much misinformation. I try not to judge.”
Opinions about COVID-19 shots aside, all Washington long-term care nurses, aides and other employees will be required to be vaccinated by Oct. 18 against the virus that has been more deadly among the residents they care for than any other population. But as of Aug. 8, just 68% of nursing home workers in the state have been vaccinated, compared with 83% of residents, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which doesn’t track numbers for other long-term care facilities.
The delta variant is a game-changer for sports fans as Seattle’s pro and college teams scramble to impose new rules and recommendations. Here’s what fans need to know about attending games.
Washington’s hospitalized COVID-19 patients are doubling every 18 to 19 days, and the vast majority are unvaccinated, state officials say.
Who isn’t getting vaccinated and why it matters: Washington’s long-term care facilities are on pins and needles, worried the vaccine mandate will drive workers away. Vashon Island is very vaccinated, but its fire chief isn’t, and that’s creating plenty of angst. And Pierce County fire chiefs fear the vaccine mandate will spark an exodus of firefighters.
Before you take an at-home coronavirus test, it’s important to know what kind you’re picking and what to do about the test results. Here’s a guide.
Delta Air Lines has become the first big U.S. employer to charge unvaccinated employees more for health insurance — and that’s just one of several ways the airline is pushing shots, providing a case study as other employers wrestle with this. If your employer in Washington state is requiring vaccination, we’d like to hear from you.
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