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.
Vashon Vaccine Availability:
The Overview: Vaccine supplies to the two active island vaccination sites continue to be strong, plenty to fulfill the demand. Vaccination demand ticked up a bit in the last week. Publicity regarding the Washington state COVID-19 vaccine lottery and continued public education efforts by VashonBePrepared and Public Health — Seattle & King County (PHSKC) appear to be spurring motivation. A record 21 people took advantage of the drop in, no-appointment-required service at Vashon Pharmacy on Saturday.
School Vaccinations: Vashon Pharmacy, Medical Reserve Corps, and EOC volunteers return to Vashon High School and McMurray Middle School on Thursday, June 10, to administer the second dose of COVID-19 vaccinations for students who received their first dose on Thursday, May 20. Vaccinations will take place 8:45 AM – 10:30 AM at the High School and 11:45 AM – 1:30 PM at McMurray. Students who need a first dose or who are unable to participate in the school clinics need to receive a vaccination elsewhere. On-island options are Vashon Pharmacy or Sea Mar Clinic (see details below).
Get Your Second Dose: Completed vaccinations of Vashon residents are still running roughly 17 points behind the first-dose rate, as the island’s first-dose rate nudges closer to 90% for residents 12 years and older, reflecting both the waiting period between doses, and that some people have not followed up with their second dose to get the full protection of the vaccination. Even if you got your first dose at an off island provider, you can go to Sea Mar Clinic or Vashon Pharmacy to complete your vaccination (see details below). If you are coming for a second dose, bring your vaccination card so the vaccinators can be sure to give you the correct vaccine and check for proper spacing between your first and second dose. Anyone who got a Johnson & Johnson vaccine has completed their shots, since that’s a one-dose vaccine.
Sea Mar Clinic Vaccinations: It’s a good idea to check availability on the Sea Mar website before dropping by, in order to find out what vaccine is on offer and to make sure they’ll be operating: SeaMar.org/COVID-Vaccine. With that in mind, you can choose between making an appointment or dropping in without an appointment, any day the clinic is giving shots. If you prefer to make an appointment, or to check on vaccine availability, call the Sunrise Ridge clinic at (206) 463-3671.
Vashon Pharmacy Vaccinations: The main Vashon Pharmacy outdoor vaccination clinic operates on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 9:00am to 12:00pm and 1:00pm to 4:00pm. Just go to the rear of the Pharmacy and look for the white vaccination tents, or look for a sign directing you inside the Pharmacy. Vaccination operations are being calibrated to the demand, which has been declining as more and more people complete the vaccination process. A Spanish-language interpreter is on-site during most hours of operation.
Vaccination Free to All: All COVID-19 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.
Current Virus Statistics:
Vashon Island COVID-19 Case Count as of 6/8/21:*
- 121 confirmed positive cases, 4 people have been hospitalized, 3 deaths
- Since the last report, Vashon has had 0 new cases
- 8,539 (89.2%) 12+ year-old residents have received one vaccine dose, and 72.7% received 2 doses
King County COVID-19 Case Count as of 6/8/21:*
- 105,513 confirmed positive cases, 298 new since last Situation Report
- 1,599 deaths, 7 new since last Situation Report
- 1,473,769 (75.5%) 12+ year-old residents have received one vaccine dose, and 65.6% received 2 doses
Washington State COVID-19 Case Count as of 6/7/21 (vaccinations data as of 6/5/21):*
- 439,263 confirmed positive cases, 2,328 new since last Situation Report
- 5,785 deaths, -51 since last Situation Report (due to corrects in data)
- 7,253,646 (63.7%) 16+ year-old residents have received one vaccine dose, and 55.7% 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:
The COVID-19 vaccines provide great benefits to help protect people. Getting vaccinated can greatly reduce your chance of getting seriously ill, even if you get COVID-19. The vaccines are also highly effective at preventing the transmission of COVID-19, so getting your vaccination protects the community, making it harder for the disease to spread. Completing the vaccine series provides you with excellent protection (>95%) while only receiving only the first dose provides about 80% protection against contracting the disease. So why wait? Get your vaccination today. If you have more questions, visit Washington Department of Health’s Vaccine page. https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/COVID19/VaccineInformation/HowVaccinesWork
New Developments since Last Report:
A question and answer page on COVID-19 home testing kits is available from Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC). The web page provides information on understanding the test results and their limitations, what to do if you have a positive result, and how these test kits can be part of your virus safety strategy. https://kingcounty.gov/depts/health/covid-19/testing/at-home.aspx
Washington’s COVID-19 “Shot of a Lifetime” lottery drawing began today, Tuesday June 8. To help protect yourself against fraud, it’s important to be sure of the identity of someone calling or emailing about the lottery. Washington’s Lottery spokesperson Dan Miller told The Seattle Times last week that winners will be contacted by phone, or the information listed in the state’s immunization records system. If a winner misses the call, the official will leave a voicemail identifying themselves and include a detailed message on what day and time the winner must call back. If you have concerns about the call or email, call the lottery at 360-810-2888. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/today-the-first-winners-of-washington-states-covid-vaccine-lottery-will-be-chosen
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) released a statement to assure Washingtonians that vaccination records have been transmitted to the Washington State Immunization Information System (WAIIS) and they are eligible for the “Shot of a Lifetime” lottery drawing. DOH acknowledged that many people have experienced challenges in trying to confirm their records in MyIR Mobile and the MyIR immunization records website. People who have further questions about their vaccination status eligibility for the lottery can call the state’s vaccine hotline at 1-833-VAX HELP or visit https://walottery.com/vaccination.
The latest COVID-19 modeling and surveillance situation report from the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) shows continued declines in disease activity, with vaccination playing a key role. The report found that statewide case counts and hospital admissions continued to decline, and vaccinations are protecting people from COVID-19 illness severe enough to require hospitalization. The total number of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients is also declining as of May 30. The report also stated that increasing immunity from vaccination is playing an important role in reducing transmission, but the level of transmission was still fairly high as of mid-May. Data has shown that a non-vaccinated person is 21 times more likely to be hospitalized than a vaccinated person. https://www.doh.wa.gov/Newsroom/Articles/ID/2819/Vaccination-helping-to-control-spread-of-COVID-19-and-needs-to-increase
PHSKC has updated guidance documents that outline what childcare administrators need to do to prevent spread of COVID-19 in their facilities, and what to do when there is a positive case confirmed in the facility. The updates include guidance for fully vaccinated staff. Language translations of the updates are coming soon. https://kingcounty.gov/depts/health/covid-19/schools-childcare.aspx
State and federal CDC vaccination data are not synching up and the state Department of Health (DOH) has been trying to true up the data although DOH officials believe it will not be easy and the data could be mismatched for quite a while longer. Some of the data differences are due to reporting from the Department of Defense (DoD), Veterans Affairs (VA), Bureau of Prisons, and potentially a few other sources of vaccines that report directly to the federal government but not to Washington DOH. Residents receiving vaccinations in other states are reported to CDC but not to their home state’s system. There is also a difference in how the data is reported: Washington state data is reported for people 16 and older, while the federal government counts vaccine injections for people 18 and up. https://www.doh.wa.gov/Newsroom/Articles/ID/2820/Vaccine-data-reconciliation-between-state-and-federal-sources-will-take-time
Progress on Community Support Operations:
Emergency Operations Center (EOC): Vashon’s pandemic emergency response was activated almost 15 months ago (454 days). Our current operational priorities are health, food security, housing security, and economic recovery, as established by the Incident Commander, Fire Chief Charlie Krimmert, and approved by the VashonBePrepared Board.
EOC/VashonBePrepared: Planning and operations are beginning to pivot as vaccination rates on Vashon reach almost 90% for residents aged 12 and above receiving their first dose. Barring unforeseen developments, the various community services that have been provided during this activation will be shifted to normal community resources by the end of this month, and VashonBePrepared’s activated units will go to Monitoring/Standby mode.
MRC: As operations pivot, care is being taken to ensure that vaccination, testing, contact tracing, and community safety consultations will still be available, even when our volunteer support at Vashon Pharmacy and the testing operation closes down. For example, Vashon Pharmacy and Sea Mar clinic will continue to make vaccinations available as part of their normal course of business. A team of MRC volunteers will be on standby to conduct contact tracing as needed. Meanwhile, at this time, volunteer vaccination and testing operations continue.
Vashon COVID Relief Fund: Financial efforts are ongoing, and it will take several months before the books are closed on this activation. The VashonBePrepared Board will meet next week to discuss next steps, including the establishment of a permanent reserve fund that will make it possible to activate rapidly in response to a future emergency.
Volunteers: For the last full week reporting period, 31 volunteers contributed 295 hours of work to VashonBePrepared’s pandemic emergency response. That brings the total contributed hours to over 30,845 since the activation began. At the FEMA reimbursement grant rate of $31.72/hour, VashonBePrepared volunteers have run up more than $978,400 of contributed in-kind value. VashonBePrepared gives thanks to the staff and volunteers of local social services agencies for the many hours of extra work logged during the pandemic.
