Data Snapshot
UW Medicine Hospitals:
King County: The county reported 4,014 new positive cases since Jan. 4 and 6 new deaths since Jan. 4.
Washington: The state reported 784,491 cases and 9,909 deaths as of Jan. 3.
United States: The CDC reports 56,310,718 cases and 825,106 deaths as of Jan. 4.
Global: WHO reports 290,959,019 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 5,446,753 deaths as of Jan. 4.
Numbers update frequently, please follow links for most up-to-date numbers.
UW Medicine COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Update
Total Vaccine Doses Administered: 516,707
As of Jan. 4, 2021
UW Medicine in the News
The Washington Post: Your questions on the coronavirus, answered: J&J shot and booster vs. omicron?
Featuring: Jesse Erasmus, PhD, Microbiology
“For now, three mRNA shots appears to be the gold standard in keeping people safe from omicron. Health officials say the additional doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines seem to restore most people’s antibody levels enough to fight off the variant. A combination of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and an mRNA booster doesn’t appear to have the same effect, early and not yet peer-reviewed research shows. But that doesn’t mean immunity disappears. Many people who got this series are expected to retain significant protection against serious covid-19, said Jesse Erasmus, a virologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine. ‘I’d put them in the same category as individuals who had two mRNA vaccines, maybe slightly better,’ Erasmus told me. ‘I’d say the majority are going to be protected from severe disease.’”
The New York Times: With no way to identify Omicron and Delta patients, treatment decisions are vexing doctors.
Featuring: Alex Greninger, MD, PhD, MS, MPhil, Laboratory Medicine
“‘For the next few weeks, as the country grapples with this uneven mix of both variants, tailoring treatments to each patient will be ‘extraordinarily difficult,’ said Dr. Alex Greninger, assistant director of the clinical virology laboratories at the University of Washington Medical Center. Dr. Greninger is credited with developing one of the first tests to detect the coronavirus in the United States. But he is pessimistic that health systems can pivot quickly to sort out which patients have Delta or Omicron. And although a shortcut test can detect Omicron, there’s no simple way to report the results in bulk, he said.”
KOMO News: Health officials say omicron surge is projected to last for weeks
Featuring: Ali Mokdad, PhD, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation; Paul Pottinger, MD, DTMH, FACP, FIDSA, Allergy and Infectious Diseases
“‘I expect a difficult month in January unfortunately,’ said Dr. Ali Mokdad with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. ‘It’s changing everything so fast, the sheer number of infections is overwhelming.’ As we head into 2022, Dr. Mokdad projects cases will peak in mid to late January before trending down again. Health officials say while hospitalizations are slowly rising, it’s not at the same levels as previous outbreaks. But the unvaccinated are still at the biggest risk of going to the hospital and dying. ‘Even if you’re vaccinated and boosted. It’s better to protect your loved ones because we have so many infections that are asymptomatic, you could be spreading the virus to others,’ said Dr. Mokdad.”
Tweet of the Week
The Omicron variant is spreading quickly, and it’s likely there'll be a significant increase in cases over the next couple of weeks. UW Medicine's Dr. Christine Johnston gives us an update
Today in #SeattleNow: https://t.co/ZHWcvLQpi6
— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) January 4, 2022
