COVID-19 Vashon Situation Report
The Vashon Emergency Operations Center produces this briefing for our emergency workers and for the community. The situation report is published Tuesday and Friday and includes information on Vashon community response actions and support.
Spanish translations of each Situation Report are available.
La traducción del SitRep o Reporte de la Situación en la isla, está disponible en español. Pare recibir una copia por correo, pídala a:
laguilarkir@gmail.com===================================================
King County Directive: Local Clarification on Masking
King County Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin has issued a Local Health Officer
directive that strongly urges everyone to continue wearing a face mask in indoor public settings, whether or not they are vaccinated. The directive acknowledges the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) guidelines released last week but takes into account King County’s local COVID-19 infection situation. Dr. Duchin’s directive asks that masking continue for a little while longer, until local case rates and hospitalizations come down further, and vaccination rates are higher. Public Health – Seattle & King County recommends that businesses who serve the public continue policies to ensure customers and employees wear masks indoors. Duchin says, “We have no way to know who is vaccinated and who isn’t, and it’s impractical for businesses to determine that.”
- The CDC guidance was to allow vaccinated people to be unmasked in indoor spaces, but it also said ending indoor mask mandates should be linked to local circumstances according to local regulation.
- Governor Inslee issued a proclamation in support of local authorities and individual businesses making their own decisions about mask usage. So with the backing of the state and county, each Vashon business is allowed to set its own mask guidance, and customers may still be required to wear masks.
- King County’s directive to continue wearing masks indoors, while not a binding mandate, is a strong recommendation to continue the protection for now to get us back to normal.
Vashon Vaccine Availability:
The Overview: Island vaccination availability continues strong, plenty of supply with a declining number of takers as more and more people complete their vaccination process. Multiple reports from health authorities indicate that infection rates are dropping as more people get vaccinated.
Pop-up Vaccination Clinic at the Food Bank
Next Wednesday. The next phase of offering COVID vaccinations on Vashon will be pop-up clinics at locations around the island. The first one is this
coming Wednesday, May 26th at the Food Bank,
from 10:00-12:30. This will offer a convenient opportunity for those waiting for their food orders to get vaccinated without an appointment. The clinics will be run by Vashon Pharmacy staff, Medical Reserve Corps and EOC volunteers.
Second Doses No Matter Where You Got your First: The vaccination rate for full protection with a second dose continues to lag. Second dose follow-through has been strong at both Sea Mar clinic and Vashon Pharmacy, but some people may believe they are required to go back to their first shot location for their second dose. Both Sea Mar and the Pharmacy can readily give you your second shot, even if you got your first dose at a mainland pharmacy, medical center or vaccination site. Now that there’s plenty of vaccine on hand, it’s much easier for you to get your second shot here on the island and close to home, rather than getting on a ferry. Details on getting your second doses are included below in the sections for Vashon Pharmacy and Sea Mar.
School Shots: For anyone who missed getting a shot at this week’s school vaccination clinics, it’s easy to catch up. Anyone aged 12 and up can get vaccinations now at both of the island’s active vaccination providers through the regular process. Please see the access directions below for Vashon Pharmacy and Sea Mar clinic. Also, it’s important that those who got their first doses this week remember to get their second doses at the follow-up school clinics that will take place
in three weeks(
June 7 for those who received their shots on Monday, and
June 10 for those who received their shots on Thursday). That’s how our island’s young people can get maximum vaccination protection before the summer.
Vashon Pharmacy: Vaccinations continue at Vashon Pharmacy, but with a new look. On any Tuesday, Thursday, or
Saturday, from 9:00am to 12:00pm and
1:00 to 4:00pm, walk up to the Pharmacy, and look for the white tents behind the building, or a sign directing you to go inside the Pharmacy for shots. If you need to get your first dose of vaccine, the Pharmacy offers two options: you can make an appointment at
VashonPharmacy.com/COVID, or you may also just drop in without an appointment at the times listed above. If you are looking to get your second dose and complete your vaccination, don’t use the online system. Keep the appointment you were given at the time of your first shot, or if you don’t have an appointment, just show up during the regular hours on Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. Spanish language interpretation is available at all walk-up clinics.The mass vaccination drive-through site, which began operation in January, has been demobilized, and the greeter station at the movie theater is no longer in operation.
Sea Mar Clinic: Sea Mar vaccinates walk-ups without appointments
Monday through Friday. It’s a good idea to check availability on the Sea Mar website daily to find out what vaccine is on offer, and to make sure they’ll be open:
SeaMar.org/COVID-Vaccine. You may prefer to make an appointment to make sure you can get your shot by calling the Sunrise Ridge clinic at
(206) 463-3671. A Spanish-language interpreter is available for early visits on Wednesdays only,
beginning at 7:30 am. Second dose patients are welcome, even if they got their first injection elsewhere.
Free: All vaccinations are free to all. If you have insurance, you’ll be asked for your information so providers can recover the cost of administering the free vaccine, but there’s no co-pay. If you do not have insurance, the cost is covered anyway and you will not be charged.
Please Don’t Waste Doses: Let the vaccinators know if you can’t make your appointment. Sea Mar and Vashon Pharmacy explain that a missed appointment could waste precious doses of vaccine, and ask that you please notify them if you will not be coming. To cancel or reschedule at Sea Mar clinic, call
(206) 463 3671. Vashon Pharmacy has an online cancellation link at
VashonPharmacy.com/COVID.
Questions About Vaccination: If you have questions, please call
(844) 469-4554 and select option 4. That will connect you to one of the Medical Reserve Corps doctors who can respond with information. You can’t make a vaccination appointment at that number. For an appointment, follow the directions in the Sea Mar and Pharmacy sections above.
Current Virus Statistics:
Vashon Island COVID-19 Case Count as of 5/21/21:*
- 120 confirmed positive cases, 4 people have been hospitalized, 3 deaths
- Since the last report, Vashon has had 2 new cases
- 7,812 (81.7%) 12+ year-old residents have received one vaccine dose, and 58.0% received 2 doses (see item in New Developments about changes to these statistics)
King County COVID-19 Case Count as of 5/21/21:*
- 103,628 confirmed positive cases, 552 new since last Situation Report
- 1,573 deaths, 11 new since last Situation Report
- 1,368,917 (70.1%) 12+ year-old residents have received one vaccine dose, and 55.6% received 2 doses (see item in New Developments about changes to these statistics)
Washington State COVID-19 Case Count as of 5/21/21 (vaccinations data as of 5/19):*
- 427,494 confirmed positive cases, 3,444 new since last Situation Report
- 5,702 deaths, 49 since last Situation Report
- 6,541,234 (59.9%) 16+ year-old residents have received one vaccine dose, and 48.0% received 2 doses
*Note 1: The statistics above are from the Public Health – Seattle & King County dashboard as of the date listed. Numbers may not be complete, as data processing lags and the actual number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths may not yet match the dashboard.
Note 2: The federal HIPAA Act prohibits Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC) from releasing the names of patients. For consistency of day-to-day data reporting for Vashon, the EOC uses only the ZIP code data from the Public Health – Seattle & King County dashboard.
Health Tips:
Hold onto your vaccine card. Your vaccination card shows proof of vaccination, and the dates and the kind you received, all information which may be useful. Going forward, you may be asked to show proof of vaccination for certain activities; for example, Europe is opening up only to vaccinated travelers in June. If booster shots are needed in the future, it will be helpful to have your card as well. Take a photo of your card and keep it in your phone in case you lose the card, or need to show it. If you need to look up your vaccination records, Washington state Department of Health runs the
https://wa.myir.net site, and
https://MyIRmobile.com, which allows creation of new immunization documents.
Vaccine side effect and reaction tracking: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collects information about side effects and adverse events that occur after vaccinations, including the ones for COVID-19. You can help in this process. After getting your shot, you can sign up for V-safe, the after vaccine health checker, at
https://vsafe.cdc.gov. You will receive text messages every day for a week, then weekly, after your vaccines doses, asking how you are feeling. You can still participate if you got a shot within the last 6 weeks.
Another important tool is VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (
https://vaers.hhs.gov), allows individuals to report reactions or health issues that occur after vaccinations, even if you aren’t sure if they are related to the COVID vaccine. This information can help illuminate health issue trends very quickly for the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). All information collected from these sources and from mandatory reporting by healthcare practitioners are part of the ongoing oversight monitoring the safety of these vaccines.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.htmlNew Developments since Last Report:
Vaccination rates change: Since the eligibility age for COVID-19 vaccination dropped from age 16 to age 12, King County has updated its vaccination data to reflect the percentage of people aged 12 and over who are partially or fully vaccinated. Consequently, Vashon’s first dose vaccination rate has dropped from 85.5% to 81.7%, when taking into account this newly larger population of recipients. It will take another 3-4 weeks for the first set of 12- to 15-year olds who got shots to be fully vaccinated, when we can expect the overall rate to catch up to its former higher level.
Vaccinations in Schools: Vashon Pharmacy staff and Medical Reserve Corps volunteers, have given first doses to 408 12- to 18-year-old students at four Vashon High School and McMurray Middle School vaccination clinics over the last few weeks. Seventy of the older students, who received their first doses before the younger group became eligible, have now received their second doses. Two more school clinics will provide second doses
on June 7th and 10th.
King County Reaches Targets on Key Indicators. King County has brought its case and hospitalization rates down below the target numbers set by the state. The rate of new COVID cases per 100,000 residents over the past 14 days recently fell below 200. It rose to a high of 460 in November, and didn’t fall below the mark until the end of January. The new-case rate rose above 200 again in early April, but now, with vaccinations widespread, it’s expected to stay below 200. The rate of new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents over the past seven days has followed a similar path, and fell below 5 earlier this month. These trends, mirrored around the state, have allowed all counties to enter Phase 3 of reopening, and to continue the path to expected full reopening at the end of June.
