Data Snapshot
UW Medicine Hospitals:
King County: The county reported 181 new positive cases and 4 new deaths on August 17.
Washington: The state reported 67,721 cases and 1,785 deaths as of August 16.
United States: The CDC reports 5,422,242 cases and 169,870 deaths as of August 18.
Global: WHO reports 21,756,357 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 771,635 deaths as of August 18.
*Numbers update frequently, please follow links for most up-to-date numbers.
UW Medicine in the News
Association of American Medical Colleges: Creative staffing, daily PPE counts, constant testing: The new normal for hospitals across the United States
Featuring: Tim Dellit, MD, chief medical officer
“Finding new ways to ensure that front-line staff have critical medical supplies is one of many lessons that hospitals have learned about how to improve staff and patient support in a pandemic. While medical discoveries about COVID-19 treatment draw media headlines, the more quiet, systemic innovations focus on creating strategies to keep workers safe and deploying them effectively. That includes coming up with new ways of securing coronavirus tests and personal protective equipment (PPE), managing staff assignments to avoid burning out front-line workers, and giving patients the care they need while preserving hospital resources. ‘One of the biggest challenges is the support and well-being of the workforce,’ says Tim Dellit, MD, chief medical officer for UW Medicine, which includes the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine. ‘They have to feel safe and confident in providing care. And they have to feel safe and confident that they’re not going to go home and infect their families.”’
The Seattle Times: Seattle firefighters make giving COVID tests part of their job
Featuring: Michael Sayre, Emergency Medicine
“It’s like getting pool water up your nose, they’ll tell you. Or wasabi. But it doesn’t last long. Maybe 12 seconds per nostril with a six-inch swabber that reaches the sinus cavity where COVID-19 likes to live. Then you’re done. That’s how Seattle Fire Department firefighters and paramedics put it when you are tested for the coronavirus. Simple, understandable terms, presented quickly and calmly, while looking you straight in the eye. It’s what they know, it’s how they’re trained, and it’s why they’re thriving as the volunteer army behind a free COVID-19 testing program run by the City of Seattle. The program, which started in June, is run out of two former state vehicle emissions testing stations in North Seattle and South Seattle and — on Aug. 7 — Rainier Beach High School.
Featuring: Alex Greninger, Laboratory Medicine
“Alexander Greninger at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle and his colleagues tested the crew of a US fishing vessel for SARS-CoV-2 and for antibodies to the virus (A. Addetia et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/d6qm; 2020). Just before the ship’s departure, the researchers tested 120 of the 122 crew members and found that all were negative for SARS-CoV2, but an outbreak hit the ship soon after it left shore. Post-voyage testing showed that 104 members of the 122-person crew were infected. None of those who were infected and had been tested before embarking had shown neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.”
Tweet of the Week
Because #COVID19 can present with different symptoms, it can be hard to figure out whether something like a headache means you have the virus. @UWMedicine @harborviewmc @JohnLynchID helps sort it out.https://t.co/PUcghVCtAq
— UW Medicine Newsroom (@uwmnewsroom) August 17, 2020
