Washington state - Covid-19 Cases and news- 76,836 cases; 1,953 deaths

[Commonground]

...Another patient with "extreme flu-like" symptoms checked into a Bellevue hospital Friday and will be tested for possible coronavirus, according to a hospital spokesperson.

The spokesperson said a patient is currently in isolation at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. The patient came to the hospital Friday morning while experiencing "extreme flu-like" symptoms, the spokesperson said.

The isolated patient will undergo tests for coronavirus. ...

 

[Commonground]

NBS News:
Updated Feb. 29, 2020, 4:12 AM EST
Excerpt:

A high school student in Snohomish County became ill Monday with fever, body aches and a headache and was seen at two clinics, Snohomish Health District Health Officer Dr. Chris Spitters said.

...The student was feeling better and attempted to return to school Friday morning, but a local test result came back with a preliminary positive result. The student returned home before attending class, he said....

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...e-countries-prepare-outbreak-spreads-n1143556

 

[Pathfinder]

News Release


For immediate release: February 28, 2020 (20-026)

Contact: Lisa Stromme Warren, Washington State Department of Health, 253-512-7100

Contact: Hilary Karasz, Public Health Seattle-King County, 206-423-2542

Contact: Heather Thomas, Snohomish Health District, 425-508-4980

Contact: Kathy Reeves, Everett School District, 425-319-4143 Additional Cases of COVID-19 in Washington State


OLYMPIA – The Washington State Department of Health, Public Health – Seattle & King County, and Snohomish Health District, are announcing two new cases of COVID-19, currently classified as “presumptive positives.” A presumptive positive is a test that comes back positive at the Public Health Laboratory and is pending confirmation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.)

The individuals reside in both King and Snohomish Counties. In King County, a woman in her 50s with confirmed travel to Daegu, South Korea is a presumptive positive. She is currently in home isolation.

In Snohomish County, a person under the age of 18 with no travel history is also a presumptive positive. He is currently in home isolation as well. That patient visited Seattle Children’s North Clinic on Monday, Feb. 24. Snohomish County Health District is working alongside the Everett Public Schools to ensure the safety of students and staff at Jackson High School, where this student attends. Everett Public Schools is taking this very seriously and in an abundance of caution, the superintendent has decided to close Jackson High School on Monday to allow three days for deep cleaning.

While the King County case is believed to be travel-related, we don’t know how or where the new Snohomish County case was infected. We are working hard to find and identify how the patients were exposed as well as tracing people who might have been exposed to this patient.

“Now that we are able to expedite test results here at the Public Health Lab in Shoreline, we’re getting results on suspected local cases a lot faster,” said State Health Officer Dr. Kathy Lofy. “Given the extent of global spread, we expect to identify more individuals with COVID-19 in Washington. We want to emphasize the importance of practicing good health habits.”

...

https://www.doh.wa.gov/Newsroom/Arti...shington-State


.

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.katc.com/news/national/a...shington-state


America's first coronavirus death reported in Washington state
Posted: 12:07 PM, Feb 29, 2020
Updated: 1:08 PM, Feb 29, 2020
By: The Associated Press

Officials in Washington state say a person has died of COVID-19, the first such death in the United States. ..

****************

Source: https://www.wxxinews.org/post/seattl...ronavirus-dies

...A person in Washington state infected with coronavirus has died, according to the Seattle and King County Department of Health. The fatality marks the first death associated with the virus in the United States. The health department had no further details at the time of the announcement, but plans to announce more Saturday afternoon..

*******************

Press conference at 1pm: https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/de...-washington-state/XIDPHMLVOJAAREQ5YCL75367PU/

 

[Pathfinder]

Department of Health confirms first coronavirus death in Washington state

By: KIRO 7 News Staff
Updated: February 29, 2020 - 9:56 AM

The Washington Department of Health confirmed Saturday the first coronavirus-related death in Washington state, according to a press release.

Health officials said there are new King County cases in addition to the two new cases confirmed Friday evening.

...
https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/de...-washington-state/XIDPHMLVOJAAREQ5YCL75367PU/

 

[Emily]

Article reports Evergreen said a second patient is in isolation, (there I presume), and receiving treatment.
Press conference at 1pm PST will be livestreamed.
https://www.kiro7.com/video/live-stream/

 

[Emily]

https://nwhrn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/NWHRN-Response-Plan-Annex-Acute-Infectious-Disease.pdf

The following hospitals have been designated Treatment and Assessment facilities.
Treatment Centers:
• Harborview Medical Center (Adult) (Seattle)
• Seattle Children’s Hospital (Pediatrics) (Seattle)
• Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital (Spokane) – Regional Treatment Center
Assessment Hospitals:
• Swedish Issaquah (King)
• EvergreenHealth Medical Center (King)
• Harrison Medical Center (Kitsap)
• Providence Regional Medical Center – Everett (Snohomish)
• PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center (Bellingham)
• Providence St. Mary Medical Center (Walla Walla)

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.yakimaherald.com/free_a...cle_f9d548f3-f3ab-5360-92c5-819a99eea689.html

Yakima Health District investigating possible COVID-19 case in Yakima County
DONALD W. MEYERS Yakima Herald-Republic Feb 29, 2020 Updated 3 min ago

YAKIMA, Wash. — Yakima Health District officials are investigating a possible case of novel coronavirus in Yakima County.

The district was notified that a person in Yakima County was experiencing symptoms and had a travel history consistent with the disease, officially known as COVID-19, according to a news release from the district...

 

[Pathfinder]

...
COVID-19 update from the district ...

Feb. 29, 2020


Our maintenance crew has been and will continue to be working hard disinfecting Jackson High School through Monday, March 2. Click here for Frequently Asked Questions, we will be updating as we get more information. Keep checking this website and social media for updates. We appreciate the Snohomish Health District and Washington State Department of Health, for their support and direction.


Feb. 28, 2020


The Snohomish Health District notified us we have a confirmed case of Coronavirus, or COVID-19, at Jackson High School. We are in ongoing communication with the Department of Health and the Health District to determine how we should proceed. The student is quarantined and the few students who were in contact, along with family members, are quarantined and will be tested if they develop symptoms. In an abundance of caution the school will be closed on Monday, March 2 to allow for three full days of deep disinfecting beginning this evening through Monday. We are taking this seriously and will keep families and our community updated as we get direction from the Department of Health and Snohomish Health District. Click here for letter sent to families and staff.

https://www.everettsd.org/site/defau...53896&PageID=1

 

[Pathfinder]

[h=1]Public Health news and blog[/h]

---

[h=1]First death due to novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in a resident of King County[/h] February 29, 2020[h=4]Summary[/h]
Public Health – Seattle & King County and the Washington State Department of Health are announcing new cases of COVID-19, including one death. The individual who died was a man in his 50s with underlying health conditions who had no history of travel or contact with a known COVID-19 case. Public Health is also reporting two cases of COVID-19 virus connected to a long-term care facility in King County. [h=4]Story[/h]

Public Health – Seattle & King County, Washington State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are reporting three presumptive positive cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19), including one person who died. This brings the total of presumptive positive cases in King County to four.

• Two of the confirmed cases are associated with LifeCare nursing facility in Kirkland, King County, Washington:
  • One is a health care worker from LifeCare. She is a woman in her 40s, is currently in satisfactory condition at Overlake Hospital, and she has no known travel outside the United States.
  • The second case, a woman in her 70’s, is a resident at LifeCare and is in serious condition at EvergreenHealth Hospital.
• In addition, over 50 individuals associated with LifeCare are reportedly ill with respiratory symptoms or hospitalized with pneumonia or other respiratory conditions of unknown cause and are being tested for COVID-19. Additional positive cases are expected.
• The death occurred in a patient at EvergreenHealth Hospital but was not a resident of the long-term care facility.

Public Health – Seattle & King County is current working with LifeCare to provide care for ill patients while protecting uninfected patients. The CDC is sending a team of epidemiologists to King County to support our efforts to identify, isolate and test all of those who may be at risk because of these new cases.

Public Health is at the very beginning stages of this investigation and new details and information will emerge over the next days and weeks.
...
https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/news/2020/February/29-covid19.aspx

 

[Emily]

Update: A newer video I saw today interviewing the chief Evergreen doctor revealed that the criteria had changed on Tuesday without explanation. They were told to test all severe respiratory patients who had no other explanation for their illness.
End update.

The doctor from Evergreen said during the press conference that the man who passed away had been chronically ill with serious risk factors. That is why he was tested. He had no travel or contact history.

CDC will be sending 10 staff to investigate the nursing home situation. Again no known travel or contact risk there.

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/rep...DVX53SUWXLYYU/

There are also two confirmed cases associated with the nursing facility.
....

One is a woman in her 40s who works as a health care worker at Life Care. She is currently in satisfactory condition at Overlake Hospital and does not have a history of known travel outside the United States, officials said.

 

[Pathfinder]

[h=1]Coronavirus Information

Statement from EvergreenHealth[/h]

We are working closely with health authorities following the death of a patient who tested positive for coronavirus COVID-19.

That patient came to our facility with serious respiratory issues, and following guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), EvergreenHealth tested the patient for COVID-19. That test was positive.

There is a second patient that also tested positive. That patient is in isolation and is receiving appropriate treatment.

We are working with the CDC and the Washington Department of Health to ensure that those who have come into contact with the patient are screened and tested as appropriate. For more information, please contact the Washington State Department of Health at 253.512.7100.

---

[h=3]Coronavirus Hotline[/h]
The EvergreenHealth Healthline has set up a hotline regarding the coronavirus.

Call 425.899.3555:

• Press option 1 for general coronavirus information
• Press option 4 to speak with a consulting nurse

---

[h=3]How to protect yourself and your family[/h]
Everyone wants to know what you can do to protect yourself from the coronavirus. Here are things that everyone should be doing:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. We encourage you to refresh your education about this important measure.
• While washing with soap and water is preferred, if unavailable, use a hand gel that contains at least 60% alcohol.
• Avoid touching your face, eyes, nose and mouth. And again, wash your hands often – with soap and water, if possible.
• Always cover a cough or sneeze, using your arm as a shield. If you sneeze into a tissue, dispose of the tissue in the garbage right away.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.

---

[h=3]Screening for coronavirus[/h]

• At EvergreenHealth, in our practices as well as in Urgent Care and our Emergency Departments, we continue to screen patients for COVID-19 as per Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations. We also observe all Infection Control protocols in order to keep our staff, physicians and patients safe.
• Whenever possible, we begin the screening process on the telephone before a patient visits one of our facilities. And when patients do visit us, we ask those with a cough or respiratory symptoms to don a mask immediately upon arriving.
• If you or someone you know intends to visit the doctor with a cough or respiratory symptoms, please call before coming in. We’ll arrange to receive you in a way that reduces the likelihood of transmission.

---

[h=3]Resources[/h]
For current information about COIVD-19, we recommend these resources:

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
Seattle & King County Public Health
Snohomish Health District

If you have overseas travel plans, we encourage you to visit the CDC travel site.


https://www.evergreenhealth.com/coronavirus

 

[Commonground]

[h=1]Health officials: Dozens at Kirkland nursing facility reporting symptoms that might suggest coronavirus[/h] Updated: February 29, 2020 - 1:15 PM

KIRKLAND, Wash. — Dozens of residents and staff at Life Care Center of Kirkland, a nursing and rehab facility, are reporting symptoms that might suggest coronavirus, according to a statement from King County Public Health.

There are also two confirmed cases associated with the nursing facility.

...https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/re...ggest-coronavirus/2YXV65ZP6VBSZDVX53SUWXLYYU/

 

[Commonground]

...Dr. Jeff Duchin with King County Public Health also said that an additional 27 residents and 25 staff members are reportedly ill with respiratory symptoms, hospitalized with pneumonia or are being tested for coronavirus. Health officials said that additional positive cases are not expected.

 

[Pathfinder]

2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak (COVID-19)
...

2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Washington Test Results

Positive (confirmed) * † 6
PUIs Pending Results 4
Negative * 31
Total Tested * 41
* Positive

Snohomish County - 2
King - 4
† Please contact the local health department for information.

Number of People Under Public Health Supervision

Number of people under public health supervision ‡ 263
‡ The number of people under public health supervision includes those at risk of having been exposed to novel coronavirus who are monitoring their health under the supervision of public health officials. This number includes close contacts of laboratory confirmed cases, as well as people who have returned from China in the past 14 days and are included in federal quarantine guidance.

Last updated: Feb 29, 2020 at 3:25 p.m.
...
https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/Coronavirus

 

[Rose]

Seattle Times drops pay wall for corona virus critical stories. https://twitter.com/seattletimes/status/1233849463778791426?s=20

 

[sharon sanders]

The team at the
@seattleflustudy
have sequenced the genome the #COVID19 community case reported yesterday from Snohomish County, WA, and have posted the sequence publicly to http://gisaid.org. There are some enormous implications here. 1/9
11:20 PM ? Feb 29, 2020?Twitter Web App
212
Retweets
253
Likes

Trevor Bedford
@trvrb
?
22m
Replying to
@trvrb
and
@seattleflustudy
This case, WA2, is on a branch in the evolutionary tree that descends directly from WA1, the first reported case in the USA sampled Jan 19, also from Snohomish County, viewable here: https://nextstrain.org/ncov?f_division=Washington… 2/9

4
26
71

Trevor Bedford
@trvrb
?
22m
This strongly suggests that there has been cryptic transmission in Washington State for the past 6 weeks. 3/9
4
8788
161

Trevor Bedford
@trvrb
?
21m
It's possible that this genetic similarity is a coincidence and these are separate introductions. However, I believe this is highly unlikely. The WA1 case had a variant at site 18060. This variant is only present in 2/59 viruses from China. 4/9

1
13
56

Trevor Bedford
@trvrb
?
21m
I'd assess the p-value for this coincidence at 2/59=0.03 and so is statistically significant. Additionally, these two cases are geographically proximal, both residing in Snohomish County. 5/9
2
14
47

Trevor Bedford
@trvrb
?
20m
I believe we're facing an already substantial outbreak in Washington State that was not detected until now due to narrow case definition requiring direct travel to China. 6/9
4
87
154

Trevor Bedford
@trvrb
?
19m
We will be working closely with
@KCPubHealth
and
@WADeptHealth
to investigate the full extent of the outbreak. 7/9
1
12
50

Trevor Bedford
@trvrb
?
19m
We're hoping to update soon with better estimates of the number of infections in Washington State using available data. 8/9
1
8
48

Trevor Bedford
@trvrb
?
19m
Thank you to the
@seattleflustudy
team, and particularly to
@lea_starita
, for exceptionally fast turnaround from diagnostic assay at
@WADeptHealth
to sequenced genome. 9/9
13
8
75

Trevor Bedford
@trvrb
?
2m
An update, because I see people overly speculating on total outbreak size. Our best current expectation is a few hundred current infections. Expect more analyses tomorrow.

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.wpxi.com/news/trending/...-washington-state/RJRADMRRZNBRDLEXFREY2BBH2Q/

Coronavirus: 2 dozen first responders quarantined in Washington state
By: KIRO7.com
Updated: March 1, 2020 - 7:47 AM

KING COUNTY, Wash. — Two dozen emergency workers in Washington state are off the job as they are being monitored for possible exposure to the coronavirus.

Fire Station 21 in Kirkland has a sign up tell people to keep out, including firefighters based there.

Each firefighter is believed to have possibly come in contact with the coronavirus cases at Life Care Center, a nursing facility in Kirkland. There are two confirmed cases of the virus there, and dozens of residents are reporting symptoms that might suggest the illness, health officials said...

 

[Commonground]

[h=1]Federal Way USPS employee tests positive for COVID-19[/h] USPS said the employee does not have contact with packages that are sent directly to customers.
Author: KING 5 Staff
Published: 7:17 AM PST March 1, 2020
Updated: 7:17 AM PST March 1, 2020

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. —

A United States Postal Service employee in Federal Way has tested positive for COVID-19, or the coronavirus.

The latest case is a woman who works at a package sorting facility, according to the USPS.

USPS said the woman would have some contact with other employees in the work environment, but no contact with the packages that are sent directly to customers.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/...d-19/281-cba66803-1385-4283-93cf-09250706a2cd

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattl...en-in-king-county-being-treated-for-covid-19/

Officials: 2 men in King County being treated for COVID-19
March 1, 2020 at 10:29 am Updated March 1, 2020 at 10:33 am
By Mary Hudetz
Seattle Times staff reporter

Local health officials confirmed two more cases Sunday of COVID-19 in King County, saying that two men in their 60s with underlying health conditions were hospitalized in critical condition.

The two new cases raise the total number of cases to six in King County, where officials say a man in Kirkland on Friday became the first person in the United States to die of COVID-19. The illness is caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Two more cases at a long-term care facility in Kirkland were identified Saturday...