Data Snapshot
UW Medicine Hospitals:
King County: The county reported 213 new positive cases and 1 new death since Oct. 11.
Washington: The state reported 608,185 cases and 8,062 deaths as of Oct. 11.
United States: The CDC reports 44,401,209 cases and 714,243 deaths as of Oct. 12.
Global: WHO reports 238,521,855 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 4,863,818 deaths as of Oct. 13.
Numbers update frequently, please follow links for most up-to-date numbers.
UW Medicine COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Update
Total Vaccine Doses Administered: 380,687
As of Oct. 12, 2021.
UW Medicine in the News
The New York Times: What the Future May Hold for the Coronavirus and Us
Featuring: Marion Pepper, PhD, Immunology; Jesse Bloom, PhD, Genome Sciences
“In addition to becoming more transmissible, some variants have also acquired the ability to dodge some of our antibodies. Antibodies, which can prevent the virus from entering our cells, are engineered to latch onto specific molecules on the surface of the virus, snapping into place like puzzle pieces. But genetic mutations in the virus can change the shape of those binding sites. ‘If you change that shape, you can make it impossible for an antibody to do its job,’ said Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine.”
Crosscut: From mosh pit to ER: Mudhoney bassist on being a nurse during COVID
Featuring: Guy Maddison, Vanessa Makarewicz, Nurses, Harborview
“In August, Maddison launched a podcast: ‘Emergency Room: The Covid Diaries,’ about the experience of being a health care worker during the pandemic. In the three episodes online so far, he speaks with various hospital staff about what it’s like on the front lines of the crisis. Part of the reason he started his podcast was in hopes it would raise awareness of what the unvaccinated might experience if they end up in Harborview’s intensive care unit. ‘There are people under the age of 50 in our hospital right now on life support,’ he says.”
Tweet of the Week
Some recent studies suggest that the pandemic coronavirus might not be as infective if it comes from a vaccinated person. @PepperMarion @UWImmunology is among scientists talking with @joepalca @NPR about possible lower spread risk from vaccinated people https://t.co/ccCUOzF9SA
— UW Medicine Newsroom (@uwmnewsroom) October 12, 2021