After steady decline, COVID cases in Snohomish County are rising
Nov 2, 2021, 11:09 AM
Dr. Chris Spitters, health officer for the Snohomish Health District (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
(Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
For seven consecutive weeks, Snohomish County reported a progressive decline in COVID cases. That trend ended abruptly with a two week period ending Oct.23.
The county’s health department is reporting an uptick in its COVID case rate, increasing from 331 to 351 per 100,000.
The demographic breakdown of the case rate is significant: The majority of new cases were reported among high school age children, and 22% of new cases were among those 14 and younger.
Health directors in both Snohomish and King counties are saying that the data is a clear indicator that unvaccinated individuals are the most likely to contract COVID.
Vaccine statistics are largely correlated with age. Snohomish County reports that only 51.9% of children between the ages of 12-15 are vaccinated.
Children under the age of 11 are still not eligible for the COVID vaccine. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Pfizer emergency approval authorization for its small dose vaccine for children Oct. 29, the American Academy of Pediatrics is awaiting approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before it makes the decision to formally recommend the vaccine for children aged 5-11.
The Washington State Department of Health reports that Snohomish County experienced 74 outbreaks in schools between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30. King County experienced 24 outbreaks (an outbreak is defined epidemiologically as confirmation of transmission from a single source).
“This is thanks to the strong, ongoing collaboration between the public and private K-12 schools in Snohomish County and our robust schools response team,” wrote Dr. Chris Spitters, Health Officer for the Snohomish Health District, in a press release. “We have a relatively low threshold for declaring an outbreak to get to cases and identify close contacts sooner, and the schools are also quick to implement additional mitigation measures. This all works to help keep transmission from spreading.”
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