More than 5,000 people died in COVID-19 in Washington | Community

Washington state health officials reported on Wednesday that the state had more than 5,000 deaths from the new corona virus. It was announced a few days after the country’s first COVID-19 death 1st anniversary.

The State Department (DOH) counted 24 deaths from the new coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the total to 5,012, accounting for 1.5% of all cases. Health officials also reported 799 new infections, totaling a total of 342,236 cases in the state.

“Each of these 5,000 lives was more than a few for us,” Governor Jay Inslee said in a statement Wednesday. “At the same time, it is appropriate and appropriate to thank the citizens for their efforts to fight COVID-19.”

In King County, the state’s most populous state health authorities have confirmed 84,488 coronavirus diagnoses and 1,406 deaths as of Wednesday.

Following the announcement, Secretary of Health and Welfare Umair A. Shah will give Washington citizens some time at noon on Thursday, or at a time they choose, to remain silent for those who have lost the pandemic. I asked.

Although 5,000 deaths were announced on Wednesday, DOH’s latest past counts showed that the total technically passed on Friday.

“Clearly, the 5,000 deaths are a pretty tough milestone,” said Judith N. Wasserheit, chairman of the University of Washington’s Faculty of Global Health and co-director of the school’s Pandemic Countermeasures Alliance. “We can’t see that number without recognizing the tremendous pain and catastrophic loss to their loved ones and their families, and to our entire community.

“But I think there’s good news,” Wasserheit said.

Recently, the state’s mortality rate is about 65.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, and infectious diseases and hospitalizations are showing a promising decline, health experts say. According to DOH data, the December 21st and January 4th pandemics had the highest number of deaths per day, 43 per day, so the 7-day moving average is about 30 per day. Has decreased to about 11 people.

In addition, Wasserheit said that many areas of the state, especially parts of King County, have seen high levels of mask use and physical distance.

Vaccine distribution in the United States is also increasing. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that the United States plans to provide enough virus shots for all adults by the end of May. This is two months earlier than expected.

And over the weekend, the country’s third vaccine was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. This means that Washington will be vaccinated about 60,900 times this week to strengthen the fight against the virus.

The vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson requires a single dose and is stable in the refrigerator for long periods of time, health experts say. Johnson & Johnson said it will begin shipping millions of shipments this week with the goal of distributing 100 million shipments by the end of June.

Despite the accelerating pace of vaccine production, state epidemiologists are calling on Washington citizens to stay vigilant and continue to follow public health guidelines. They say it is premature to see the effect of broader vaccine deployments on daily mortality and is a subsequent indicator of pandemic severity.

“Death shows where the infection and outbreak were about a month and a half ago,” said Katie Hutchinson, DOH’s Health Statistics Manager. “We’re seeing the situation in early January, so we can’t really see the effects of vaccination or the phase changes the governor has been talking about over the last two weeks.”

She added that the average time from onset of COVID-19 symptoms to death is about 17 days, but it can take longer. She said that about 90% of deaths from COVID-19 occur within the first 32 days.

Another concern, according to Wasserheit, is that health professionals have seen evidence that the decline in cases, hospitalizations and mortality has peaked.

“People are really tired,” she said. “So now people are sticking to the public health message in many parts of the state, and I think it helped, but there are early signs of decline.”

Scientists said that new variants emerging across the country are more contagious and can cause more serious illnesses, she said. And we need to expect more coronavirus variants to emerge in the future.

“That means it’s really premature to revoke these public health strategies,” she said. “We really need to do everything right now. When you see the finish line, accelerate, not slow down.”