[OLYMPIA] – (MTN) California governor Gavin Newsom and Colorado governor Jared Polis issued directives last week instructing healthcare providers to allow booster shots to anyone 18 and older, breaking from federal guidelines and forging a different path from the Western States Pact.
In April 2020, California, Oregon, and Washington entered into an agreement that would align the COVID response between the three states. Two weeks later Nevada and Colorado joined the pact. A similar agreement was reached on the East Coast, including many New England and Mid-Atlantic states. The cooperative agreements were created to share research and education telecommunications networks and services to align the regional response.
The states have largely been in agreement for the last 19 months so the recent fracture on booster protocols is a new development. After Colorado announced their directive on Tuesday, Charlie Boisner, the COVID-19 Public Information Officer for the Washington State Department of Health, told Malcontent News in an e-mail, “DOH is following guidance from the FDA, CDC and Western States as to whom is eligible to receive a booster shot. Additional populations may be recommended to receive a booster as more data becomes available. Washington has no plans of implementing measures outside of current authorizations.”
In a follow-up after California announced they were also breaking from FDA and CDC guidance and issuing a directive for “boosters for all,” Boisner responded, “Washington has no plans of implementing measures outside of current authorizations.”
Several Western Washington hospitals are dealing with a significant number of breakthrough cases among staff that were vaccinated in January and February.
On Monday morning New Mexico, also dealing with a late fifth wave surge, and New York City issued directives to make Covid-19 booster shots eligible for anyone 18 and over who wants one.
Colorado is facing a late fifth wave, with hospitals operating at crisis standards of care and projections indicating the state will run out of hospital resources by Christmas. Cases are also up in California with the surges in both states largely driven by the unvaccinated. Within the data, there is growing evidence that vaccines and natural immunity are waning. Among the unvaccinated reinfections are increasing dramatically and among the vaccinated, breakthrough cases among those vaccinated more than six months ago are creeping upward.
Last week Dr. Anthony Fauci urged anyone eligible to receive a booster to get one as soon as possible.
Germany may serve as a warning for the United States and the impact from a confusing rollout of booster shots. Ranked 45th for vaccination rates, only 3% of the population has received a COVID booster shot. In the eastern parts of Germany where only 50% of the population is vaccinated, cases are raging again. The German government is planning to deploy 12,000 troops to assist overwhelmed hospitals. Historically, Europe has been a leading indicator of the next surge to hit the Americas.
Earlier this year Israel dealt with a surge of Delta cases when the nation was vaccinated at a similar level to the United States today. The nation implemented a booster program in early July and expanded it twice, making boosters available for everyone 12 and older on September 25. Case rates have returned to a normal level, despite ranking 47th in vaccination rate in the world, and only slightly ahead of the United States.
During a White House briefing on Wednesday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said there continued to be a need to prioritize those who are currently eligible for a Covid-19 booster but added, “as you likely know, FDA is currently looking at the data for expanding boosters to all populations.”
Two different studies were released in October 2021, providing insight into how long natural and vaccine immunity last. Neither offer lifetime protection and lifetime protection was never promised. A growing list of studies indicates that natural and vaccine-based immunity wanes after five to seven months.
On October 1, a study on the durability of immunity against reinfection by SARS-CoV-2 was published in The Lancet. Researchers predicted that natural immunity began to fade after 142 to 185 days and natural immunity would disappear after 16 months, The study also stated that this would vary widely depending on age, overall health, genetics, and risk factors, and immunity could be as short as three months or as long as five years.
Before the first Covid-19 vaccines became publicly available, researchers and scientists were publicly stating that boosters would be likely and that testing programs would evaluate the effectiveness of future boosters. Those predictions came true.
Many people are eligible for booster shots today including 188 million American adults who are overweight with a BMI of 25 or higher.
[KIRKLAND] – (MTN) The National Weather Service added a Wind Advisory to the eastside at 7:36 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. today including Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Bothell, Kenmore, Newport Hills, Sahalee, and Pine Lake.
Temperatures in the Bellevue-Kirkland-Woodinville area were over 60 degrees as an intense flow of sub-tropical air was pushed ahead of an advancing cold front. The area has reached high temperatures for the day with the front advancing into our region.
Winds will be from the south and increase as the cold front approaches, and then shift to the southwest and west and intensify. Southwest winds will rise to 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 45 mph. The ground is extremely saturated, increasing the possibility of trees being blown down. Scatter power outages are likely as the morning progresses.
When the wind shifts to the southwest temperatures will drop and by sunset will be down to 45 degrees. Drivers should prepare for a long commute on Monday evening and give themselves some extra time. Heavy rain, landslide risk, and saturated soil can impact Sounder Train service, commuters should check on conditions in the evening and have an alternative plan for the return home.
Never drive around road closed or high water warning signs, especially in the dark. According to FEMA, a passenger car or car-based sport utility vehicle can stall out in six inches of water and start to float in 12. Even if you successfully drive through high water, moisture can get into critical mechanical components and foul lubricants causing long-term damage.
[KIRKLAND] – (MTN) When it rains it pours and it has been pouring in Western Washington for almost a week with flood watches and warnings across the region. Monday will deliver yet another punch of heavy rain and the strongest winds yet driven along an atmospheric river extending out into the Pacific Ocean.
The forecast for tomorrow is extremely challenging with little agreement across weather models. The strongest winds will move through Central Puget Sound from 6 a.m. to noon on Monday. For wind storms, Malcontent News puts more weight on the Euro Model, which is forecasting a Wind Advisory grade event for the morning.
The National Weather Service has not issued a Wind Advisory at this time. On Sunday at Seatac Airport winds reached Wind Advisory territory for three hours, peaking with a gust of 42 MPH.
For Sunday night, the rain will increase between 11 p.m. and midnight with breezy winds from the south. It will be unseasonably warm, with low temperatures from 55 to 57. South winds will be 10 to 15 MPH with increasing gusts toward daybreak. Overnight rainfall will be around one-tenth of an inch.
Monday morning will be wet, windy, and warm. Temperatures will reach 57 to 59 degrees early in the day before dropping sharply in the afternoon. Winds will continue from the south from 15 to 25 MPH with gusts to 45 MPH. Rainfall with be close to three-quarters of an inch through the area, further saturating the soil.
Saturated soils combined with the wind will increase the chance of trees being uprooted, as well as enhance the landslide risk. Scattered power outages are likely. By sunset, the winds will die down along with the rain. Overnight temperatures will drop to 38 to 40 degrees.
Drivers should prepare for a long commute on Monday morning and give themselves some extra time. Heavy rain, landslide risk, and saturated soil can impact Sounder Train service, commuters should check on conditions in the morning and have an alternative plan for the return home.
People should never drive around road closed or high water warning signs, especially in the dark. According to FEMA, a passenger car or car-based sport utility vehicle can stall out in six inches of water and start to float in 12. Even if you successfully drive through high water, moisture can get into critical mechanical components and foul lubricants causing long-term damage.
[SEATTLE] – (MTN) Federal officials charged Kalvinn Jay Garcia, 24, of Sedro-Woolley with arson for a fire he lit on February 24, 2020, in an alley behind the Seattle Police Department East Precinct building. Surveillance video from the East Precinct saw Garcia light the fire, and a dumpster exploding in flames. The fire climbed up the back wall of the alley and spread to Queer Bar, a gay bar and events venue that had 50 people inside at the time.
Seattle Police quickly apprehended Garcia as he tried to flee from the scene. He was originally charged in King County Superior Court and held at King County Jail. Due to Covid-19 protocols, he was released.
Despite the attempt to burn down the entire block that contains 100 apartments and the East Precinct, the right-wing “thin blue line” media has been silent about the arrest.
Just months after the arson as Seattle erupted into civil rights protests over the killing of George Floyd, Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins warned of the dire risk if a fire were set at the East Precinct.
Why would the right-wing media be so quiet about such a terrible attack on the Seattle Police just months before the formation of CHOP? If the reality of a fire in that area would be a disaster, why didn’t that disaster become a reality three months earlier? Is this just another case of weak King County prosecutors letting another anti-police Antifa terrorist loose on the streets? Will Garcia simply get a slap on the wrist for his actions like all the other leftist Communist-Marxist pseudo-leftist terrorists in Seattle?
If you’ve read this far you’ve been manipulated using the same misinformation techniques of the right-wing media. Every keystroke above is factual. Garcia had his first court appearance on November 12. Garcia lit a fire in the alley shared with the East Precinct. The Seattle Police caught the arson on their surveillance cameras and captured a fleeing Garcia. Chief Scoggins on June 7 did tell officials that fire in that block would be unstoppable. Not one word typed above is “false,” in a Rupert Murdoch sort of way.
Garcia’s target wasn’t the East Precinct, it was Queer Bar on the other side of the alley, which had 50 people inside and Garcia is also facing a hate crime enhancement for his actions. Garcia comes from a troubled family with convictions for heinous crimes across two states. However, the pedophilia connection card is only interesting when presented to QAnon followers.
Jason Rantz, Dori Monson, Dave Preston, Katie Daviscourt, Ari Hoffman, and Brandi Kruse would rather not talk about this incident. A hate crime against the gay community on Capitol Hill, a little more than three months before the Western Barricade and the Pink Umbrella Riot, in the same alley shared by the East Precinct, doesn’t exactly play to their base.
Rantz is part of the LBGTQIA community while Monson was suspended for anti-trans social media activity. Kruse has quit the “mainstream media” so she can continue to dog out Governor Jay Inslee for “politicizing the COVID epidemic.” Daviscourt’s view on traditional marriage is well documented and you’d think Ari Hoffman would defend his LGBTQIA and BIPOC boss at the Post Millenial, but calling out one of their own for a hate crime doesn’t play with the base.
Instead what we have is the glorious sound of silence. No questions on why Garcia was walking around a free man during this time? Local news coverage has been little more than regurgitating the Department of Justice press release. Not a whimper about a dangerous anti-police arsonist taken off the streets. That wasn’t his intended target, it just “could have been,” and now you’re just manipulating the story. See how it works? Not the right-wing media ever plays the “could have been” card in their narrative.
The reality is fear sells and fear gets eyeballs and clicks. If the news plays to the primal emotions of a fear narrative, that your very way of life is threatened by an invisible yet perceived threat, then you can control an audience.
What does any of this have to do with Garcia wanting to burn down the East Precinct Queer Bar?
An example of the fear narrative is playing out right now. Jason Rantz got himself on Tucker Carlson after a 13-year old called 911 due to his father having a medical emergency. The apartment’s address was wrongly flagged as being dangerous for Seattle Fire to enter, so they waited for the Seattle Police to arrive. SPD, always ready to let no crisis go unchecked, blames the vaccine mandate. The same mandate that had six officers go unvaccinated. Are we not going to mention the Seattle Police Department started hemorrhaging officers in 2019 under the careful guidance of union president Mike Solan?
Had the data on the address been correct there would have been no news story. Rantz’s own story indicates 911 dispatched an aid car and not a medic unit, setting up emergency services for failure the second the call went out. Not that 911 made an error on the call, or that the 13-year-old in an impossible situation told dispatch his father was conscious and responsive. In the end, Seattle Fire entered the apartment without SPD, which is more aid than Lorenzo Anderson got on June 19, 2020 in CHOP.
According to the story by Rantz on MyNorthwest, “One medic explained that “had it been addressed early, his chance of survival would have been 60%.”
No data has been released on the medical condition of the father due to HIPAA laws, however, if the father required CPR, the survival rate was nowhere near 60%. In an ideal hospital setting the survival rate is 32%, and outside of the hospital drops to 19%. Even when a patient reaches discharge post-CPR, many experience a lifetime of issues including cardiac damage and hypoxic injuries.
What about timely defibrillation? According to the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, the survival rate to discharge is 34%. The same report would put the man who died in “Group 3” in the study, right on the line of Group 2. The best survival outcomes are from zero to five minutes, which by the 911 records was an impossibility. While Rantz by proxy is trashing Seattle Fire and their response, the timeline data shows there wasn’t much of a chance of a better outcome.
If the man needed defibrillation, his survival odds were statistically unchanged than CPR – if that is what the medical emergency was.
However, none of these facts, which could be confirmed talking to experts in emergency medicine to get an unbiased view, doesn’t feed into the fear narrative of a city in crisis, a city that is run by anarchists and Marxists, and a city in flames. Rantz’s “prediction” on September 6 of 200 or more unvaccinated officers getting walking papers didn’t play out. Another key requirement of being in the right-wing media, never to admit you were wrong, shared bad information, or got played in your coverage. Just move the goalposts.
Is the violent crime plaguing Seattle a unique liberal socialist-communist-Marxist-Antifa-homeless-drug-using-welfare-state problem? Data out of red Oklahoma, and red Tusla County, and red Tulsa says no. Tulsa was where Donald Trump launched his 2020 campaign in earnest on June 20, 2020, and it ended up costing Herman Cain his life. G.T. Bynum, the mayor of Tulsa? A Republican who served on the city council and has been running the city since 2016. Tulsa is on pace to set an all-time homicide record in 2021, after almost breaking the record in 2020.
I’m sorry, does that not fit the narrative that there are other issues causing a national spike in crime that began when Donald Trump was President? We are sorry to report, trying to burn 50 members of the LGBTQIA community and their supporters alive while toasting the Seattle Police and 100 apartment dwellers is not in alignment with the fear narrative of the week.
The Seattle Fire Department got bad information from 911 in the first place, dispatch sent the wrong fire crew, and they came through the door within national average (slow side, but average) time is the fear story of the day. Would this be a bad time to bring up Warren vs. District of Columbia, Supreme Court of the United States, 1991?
Instead, we have Jason Rantz politicizing Covid-19 on the same day that Brandi Kruse criticizes the politicization of Covid-19, and somehow this is all Jay Inslee’s fault. Worst of all, they are using a 13-year-old child as a prop. Hey kid, dad might be alive if it wasn’t for the socialist-communist-Marxist-Antifa-homeless-drug-using-welfare-state run by Jenny Durkan, Jay Inslee, Barack Obama, and George Soros.
Remember, the BIPOC, LGBTQIA, and religious minorities in the United States are not victims – white people are, and the scary dangerous evil awful blood drinkers are coming. Let me manipulate you with this story.
[SEATTLE, Wash.] – (MTN) During a Facebook Live with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (CA-D) on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci M.D., Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recommended Americans who are eligible to get a Covid-19 booster shot to get one as soon as possible due to waning immunity.
With concern growing about a sixth wave in states that finished beating back the Delta surge and states such as Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, and Vermont having a late fifth wave, questions about eligibility for boosters are growing.
Some states aren’t waiting for direction from the federal government. California Governor Gavin Newsom and California Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly told state residents 18 and older they should “absolutely” sign up to get a COVID booster. On Thursday, Colorado Governor Jared Polis issued a directive that defies current federal guidance on Covid-19 booster shots, permitting all state residents 18 and older to get them.
During a White House briefing on Wednesday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said there continued to be a need to prioritize those who are currently eligible for a Covid-19 booster but added, “as you likely know, FDA is currently looking at the data for expanding boosters to all populations.”
Who is currently eligible for a Covid-19 booster
Eligibility depends on which vaccine you received and several other factors.
Janssen/Johnson & Johnson
If your initial vaccine was Janssen/Johnson & Johnson and you’re 18 or older, you are eligible for a booster 60 days after receiving your first dose. There are no limitations for age, comorbidities, living arrangements, or vocation.
The FDA has approved a mix-and-match approach, and you can receive a booster using the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or a second Johnson & Johnson dose.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has a 1:500,000 chance of causing a rare condition called VITT. In the United States, there have been 47 reported cases and four deaths. If you were assigned female at birth and have a family history of blood clots or low platelets, or you are of childbearing age and using a hormone-based form of birth control, and you’re concerned about VITT, talk to your healthcare provider, OB/GYN, or fertility specialist.
If you’ve had a confirmed case of Covid-19 in the last 90 days and you were symptomatic, talk to your doctor or healthcare provider on whether you should wait to receive a booster.
BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna
Anyone 65 or older and received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine is eligible for a booster 180 days after their second dose. People 18 to 64 can qualify for a third dose if they have certain medical conditions, work in a high-risk environment, or live in an area where social distancing isn’t feasible.
Medical conditions that put you at risk for severe Covid-19
Chronic lung disease such as moderate to severe asthma, bronchiectasis, COPD including obstructive sleep apnea, fibrosis or prior lung damage due to scarring, injury, or prior disease, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary embolism or history of, or pulmonary hypertension or history of
Dementia or Alzheimer’s
Diabetes – Type 1 or Type 2
Down Syndrome
Heart disease such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, cardiomyopathies
HIV
Immunocompromised, auto-immune disease, taking immunosuppressants, or using drugs that suppress the immune system such as steroids both oral and topical
Mental health conditions including mood disorders, depression, and schizophrenia
Body Mass Index (BMI) over 25
Pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or sexually active and could get pregnant and would carry pregnancy to term
Sickle cell disease or Thalassemia
Smoking or vaping currently or in the past
Solid-organ or blood stem cell transplant
Stroke or cerebrovascular disease
Substance abuse past or present including alcohol, opiods, or cocaine
Tuberculosis
Living conditions
If you have any of these living arrangements, you qualify for a booster.
Long-term care facility
Homeless shelter – short or long term
Jail or prison inmate
Community living arrangements such as dormatories, halfway houses, group homes, or hostels
Live with a high-risk individual with a medical condtion listed above, or live in a multi-generational household, and you are the primary care provider
First responders such as healthcare workers, firefighters, police, or congregate care providers
Educational staff such as teachers, support staff, athletics staff, transportation, and daycare workers
Food and agriculture workers
Manufacturing workers
Correctional officers and employees who work in jails or prisons including healthcare, educators, and mental health providers
U.S. Postal Service workers
Public transit workers
Grocery store workers and other retail and service employees that have high contact with the public
There have been less than 1,000 mild to moderate myocarditis cases in the United States connected with receiving the mRNA Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. Most of these cases involved adolescents or young men. If you were assigned male at birth and have a history of heart disease, or are worried about myocarditis, talk to your healthcare provider to see if the Jassen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a better option.
Just like the J&J vaccine, If you’ve had a confirmed case of Covid-19 in the last 90 days and you were symptomatic, talk to your healthcare provider to determine if you should wait to receive a booster.
I thought the COVID vaccine was forever
The idea that the Covid-19 vaccine would be one and done is a creation of misinformation, misunderstanding, and poor reporting by some news outlets.
As the first COVID wave was winding down in the United States in May 2020, there were discussions about having “immunity passports.” People who had a confirmed Covid-19 case could be permitted to return to work and other activities based on the assumption they possessed natural immunity. Shortly after the discussions started, early evidence began to pile up that natural immunity was short-lived. The journal Nature Medicine shared a report on June 18 showing natural immunity started to fade after three months.
The closest claim that immunity from natural exposure or vaccination would last a lifetime came from former President Donald Trump in October 2020. Still, even then, he never made a complete claim of lifetime protection. On October 11, 2020 during an interview with Maria Bartiromo, Trump discussed his personal battle with Covid-19.
“It looks like I’m immune for, I don’t know, maybe a long time, maybe a short time,” he said. “It could be a lifetime. Nobody really knows, but I’m immune. So the President is in very good shape to fight the battles.”
As Trump was recovering from COVID and considering if he had “long time” immunity, there was more evidence that natural immunity started to fade after three months and a growing number of reinfection cases. For public health officials, an even bigger concern was many people who got reinfected suffered from more severe cases.
In December, when the first Covid-19 vaccines were about to become publicly available in the United States, the medical community was already cautioning the public it was unknown how long immunity would last.
In January 2021, Dr. Kristen Marks M.D., an infectious disease specialist at New York-Presbyterian, said, “We really don’t know whether you’re still immune a year after vaccination. Some of the clinical trials will study adding a booster in a year and comparing whether that’s better or if the immunity is just as good for two years with the two shots. That remains to be determined.”
Data from the United Kingdom and Israel have shown that all immunity wanes. Although cases grew dramatically in both countries, hospitalizations and fatalities did not match the winter 2020 surges. A vast majority of the hospitalized, critically ill, and deaths were among the unvaccinated. In Israel, an aggressive booster program ended their wave where new cases have drifted downward to early July levels.
How long does natural and vaccine based immunity last
Two different studies were released in October 2021, providing insight into how long natural and vaccine immunity last. Neither offer lifetime protection.
On October 1, a study on the durability of immunity against reinfection by SARS-CoV-2 was published in The Lancet. Researchers predicted that natural immunity had a half-life of 142 to 185 days. Half-life means how long does it take for half of the antibodies for a disease to disappear from a person’s blood serum. The study estimated that after 16 months, the average person would no longer have any natural immunity to Covid-19. However, the study also stated that this would vary widely depending on age, overall health, genetics, and risk factors. The half-life could be as short as 45 days or as long as 31 months.
Three days later, the Lancet published a study on vaccine-based immunity titled Effectiveness of mRNA BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine up to 6 months in a large integrated health system in the USA. That study indicated that immunity waned from 30% to 50% after five months depending on the mRNA vaccine administered, age, and Covid-19 variants. Simply put, vaccine immunity and natural immunity, when accounting for a range of factors, have similar half-lives.
The viral-vector vaccine from Johnson & Johnson has received less research and has been administered to approximately 15 million Americans. A third study indicated the J&J vaccine was the least effective of the three available options in the United States, particularly with the Delta variant.
Why aren’t the vaccines 100% effective
It is a common misconception that vaccines are 100% effective, especially in industrialized nations. Due to a combination of high vaccination rates for diseases such as measles, mumps, and polio, and enough immunized people to provide community immunity, it is easy to believe that vaccines are perfect and forever.
For example, polio still exists in several countries, and the U.S. Department of Defense and the CDC recommend a poliovirus booster for anyone traveling to those regions. Certain members of Generation X have been advised to get an updated MMR vaccination because data shows that protection from measles doesn’t last a lifetime. Even Ben Shapiro complained on Twitter in 2015 that his 13-month old son was exposed to pertussis and became severely ill.
When it comes to the COVID vaccines, no one in the medical community said any vaccines were 100% effective, and the data has always been publicly available.
In Phase 3 studies, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were 95% effective in the first few months after vaccination. Put simply, “If there were 100 people who would have gotten COVID, it prevented 95 of them from getting it, but it didn’t prevent all 100,” says Dr. Marks. “It definitely provides some protection, but it’s not perfect.”
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine reported a 72% efficacy rate in preventing moderate to severe disease from COVID-19 in the U.S. and was 85% effective in preventing severe disease.
The good news is that early data found that those who did contract COVID-19 after receiving the vaccine did not develop a severe form of the disease. “So even if it doesn’t completely prevent illness, the study data shows that it does reduce the severity,” Dr. Marks said. Ten months later, the early projections have largely come true.
In King County, Washington, 22% of all confirmed Covid-19 infections since January 17 have been breakthrough cases. Eleven percent of people hospitalized were vaccinated, and 15% died of Covid-19 related illness. When the total number of vaccinated versus unvaccinated residents is considered, the effectiveness of vaccines, even as the need for boosters is increasing, is evident.
Population
Confirmed Cases
Hospitalized
Deaths
Fully vaccinated
1.633M
20,252
433
115
Partial or unvaccinated
319K
71,857
3,373
667
349,000 King County residents are under 12 years old and were not vaccine eligible from January 7 to November 10
Unvaccinated King County residents were 12 times more likely to be hospitalized and 13 times more likely to die of Covid-19 from January 17 to November 3.
Additionally, a comparison of King County, Washington, and Dallas County, Texas, provides additional data on vaccination and public health programs’ impact. King County experienced the first superspreader event in February 2020, the first Covid-19 death, and had the first mass casualty situation at a hospital in the United States. A month later, Texas suffered its first Covid-19 death. Over the next 627 days, King County implemented some of the strictest COVID rules in the nation while Dallas County took a more open approach.
On November 1, Dallas County reported its 5,000 COVID-related death while King County reported 2,022. Simply put, 1 in every 530 residents of Dallas County has died of COVID since March 2020 versus 1 in every 1,137 residents in King County since February 2020.
Will we need to get boosters forever
To answer that question, we need to move away from facts and science and step into the arena of opinion. The short answer is, “maybe,” but it depends on the advancement of medical science, improvements in available vaccines, and our own behavior.
In the short term, the data is clear – peak immunity against current Covid-19 variants lasts 142 to 185 whether it is natural or vaccine-based. A regimen of booster shots will likely be needed every 6 to 12 months over the next few years.
Two antiviral drugs are currently being evaluated in the United States. Molnupiravir by Merck is reported to reduce hospitalizations and deaths by 50%, while Pfizer released a study on a medication they are developing that was 88% effective in early testing. Both drugs are oral and would be game-changers in the treatment of Covid-19.
Another way to get off the booster shot treadmill would be to reach 90% to 95% immunity, reducing the number of available hosts for Covid-19 to a level that the disease can’t widely spread in the population – so-called ‘herd immunity.” Given the resistance of 62 million Americans to get vaccinated, and almost half the world doesn’t have access to the COVID vaccine, that seems unlikely.
A third game-changer would be a new variant that emerges and is far more transmissible than the current dominant Delta strains but with significantly less severe symptoms. A version of Covid-19 that is closer to moderate Influenza in symptoms and lethality and is as contagious as measles would quickly infect the population, run out of hosts, and burn itself out while not overwhelming hospitals. This could also lead to “herd immunity.”
The final possibility is the vaccines themselves get better. The original Salk polio vaccine, authorized in 1955, was 50% effective at preventing infections but 90% effective at preventing hospitalizations. It wasn’t until 1962 when the Sabin oral vaccine replaced the Salk vaccine, that infections dropped 90% after a first dose and 99% after four doses.
If the Covid-19 vaccines follow a similar development path as other vaccines, a more effective version will likely be discovered in the future.
Why didn’t the United States approve boosters for all after the Biden Administration announced its intent
Over the summer, the Biden Administration and the World Health Organization (WHO), FDA, and CDC had a very public disagreement on who should get booster shots. President Biden wanted every adult to be eligible for a booster. The WHO objected, pointing out how some nations had no access to COVID vaccines while the United States was throwing out expired doses. The FDA and CDC also pushed back, arguing there wasn’t enough real-world data to support boosters for all.
While the debate raged, experts had a real-world case study unfolding on the other side of the world. Israeli officials started boosters for anyone over 60 on July 13 and three weeks later dropped the age to 40. On September 25, they dropped the age again to 12 and older. The program was highly effective at controlling deaths and hospitalizations, and when Israel is compared to the United Kingdom, the booster program implemented was an evident success.
On September 22, the FDA approved booster shots for recipients of the Pfizer vaccine, and on October 20 added the vaccine by Moderna. Eligibility was limited to people who were 65 or older or were 18 to 64 and worked or lived in places with a high risk of exposure or had a serious underlying medical condition that increased their chances of severe COVID. The FDA recommended a booster six months after receiving the second dose.
Also, on October 20, the FDA authorized boosters for anyone who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. As the Delta variant raged in the southeastern United States during the summer of 2021, it became evident the J&J vaccine offered less protection against hospitalization. Additionally, the viral-vector vaccines created by Astra Zeneca and developed in Russia and China were also low-performing. Anyone who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was advised to get a booster 60 days after the first dose.
Unfortunately, the ethical and trust concerns that tainted the debate in the United States have resulted in new COVID cases stuck on a high plateau for the last three weeks. New cases are rising in most states, and the pattern of Covid-19 infections looks eerily similar to the United Kingdom. A vast majority of hospitalized COVID patients continue to be unvaccinated.
The world needs to learn to live with Covid-19 and everyone will eventually have a date with the illness. The question is, will you be effectively vaccinated or not when it happens.
Knowledge is the best tool to fight against fear. A wise person chooses to be informed so they can make sound decisions. To join the fight against COVID misinformation, you can share this update through your social media platform of choice.
[KING COUNTY, Wash.] – (MTN) Dr. Anthony Fauci discussed the need to get booster shots and waning immunity in a discussion yesterday with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (CA-D) when he was asked if a sixth wave was coming to the United States.
The surge that tore through the Pacific Northwest is coming to an end from Barrow, Alaska to Brookings, Oregon, and out to Boise, Idaho, while new hotspots are emerging in northern states plateauing the national decline in new cases and hospitalizations. Seventy-nine million Americans age five and up remain unvaccinated and millions more need boosters or wrongly believe they have lifetime natural immunity.
A study published in JAMA found a correlation between sleep apnea and a higher risk of hospitalization and having severe Covid-19 symptoms. The study did not indicate if CPAP therapy decreased the risk.
Johns Hopkins University data shows that new case rates in the United States have plateaued at a high level for the last three weeks and continue to be driven by the unvaccinated.
In Washington state, new cases continue to decline with almost half the population living in counties on the other side of the fifth wave. Hospitalizations also declined and we have lifted the avoid all unnecessary travel advisory for the East Hospital Region.
The Washington State Office of Financial Management reported 94.7% of all state employees are in compliance with the October 18 vaccine mandate and another 2% are either completing their vaccinations, waiting for accommodation, in the process of retiring, or facing termination.
The Kent School District joined Seattle Public Schools and the Bellevue School District (BSD) and canceled all classes on Friday due to staffing issues. In better news BSD moved to status green, with only 9 active Covid-19 cases reported between staff and students.
Nationally, the Department of Homeland Security updated the National Threat Advisory through February 8, 2022. DHS reported that domestic violent extremists remain their primary concern, and the agency had prevented “several” attacks. The bulletin indicated that there were no specific threats.
A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that consumers of Fox News were more likely to believe Covid-19 disinformation. In related news, doctors are seeing a growing connection between prior COVID infections and erectile dysfunction in young men around the world.
New cases continued to decline statewide. The end of farming season, colder weather, and helping drive new case rates down in several sparsely populated counties in Eastern Washington. There remains a significant difference between lower-vaccinated counties and counties where at least 70% of the total population is fully inoculated.
Percent of Total Population Fully Vaccinated
Total Population in Group
Average 14-Day New Case Rate
70.00% or above (3 counties)
2,343,250
184.7
60.00% to 69.99% (4 counties)
1,242,200
305.3
50.00% to 59.99% (16 counties)
3,454,700
321.8
40.00% to 49.99% (10 counties)
584,875
317.5
31.60% to 39.99% (6 counties)
151,850
290.8
14-Day New Covid-19 Cases per 100K average by Vaccination Rate for Total Population, Adjusted for Population by County
Through November 10, Washington’s statewide 14-day rolling average is 277.0 Covid-19 cases per 100K.
Skagit County remains above 600, with a new case rate of 620.2 per 100K residents.
Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Klickitat, Lewis, Lincoln, Okanagan, Pend Orielle, and Spokane counties have new case rates between 400.0 and 599.9. Asotin County is just under 400.
Fourteen counties representing 3.13 million Washingtonians have a 7 day moving average case rate under 100. This includes some former hotspots such as Benton, Garfield, and Kittitas Counties.
The 7 day new case rate was mixed, slight down to unchanged except for ages 20 to 34, which saw a larger decline, and up significantly for ages 50 to 64. Hospitalizations were down significantly for adults and declined slightly for children and adolescents.
Age Group
7-Day Case Rate
7-Day Hospitalization Rate
Ages 0-11
125.8
0.8
Ages 12-19
127.2
1.2
Ages 20-34
127.8 (down)
2.2 (down)
Ages 35-49
130.2
5.5 (down)
Ages 50-64
130.3 (up)
9.8 (down)
Ages 65-79
70.6
14.8 (down)
Ages 80+
78.6
25.0 (down)
7-day case rate and 7-day hospitalization rate is per 100K within the age group – the target for 7-day case rate is <25.0, but there are other factors such as vaccination rates within the age groups, how many total tests within the 7-day period, and the positivity rate within each age group
Over 57,000 of the 62,145 impacted employees have verified they are vaccinated. Another 1,945 workers requested and received accommodation based on medical or religious grounds. Combined, almost 95% of all employees have met the state requirement. The number of employees who were terminated or quit increased slightly to 1,857.
The state reported another 1,259 workers are pending a final outcome. Some are finishing their vaccination series while others are waiting for accommodation decisions. There are also employees who are still pending termination.
Several unions negotiated that if a state worker planned to retire by December 31, they would be exempt from the mandate – and some of those employees fall into this group. According to the OFM, only 121 state employees opted to retire so far because of the mandate.
4,973 employees requested a religious exemption. 1,518 have been approved and 745 requests were withdrawn, another 1,306 people requested medical exemptions with 427 approved and 333 withdrawn.
The mandate’s impact on services statewide has been minimal. The Washington State Department of Transportation has cautioned that snow removal could be reduced during the upcoming winter season and Washington State Ferries are still managing service reductions on some routes.
Seattle and Kent School Districts join Bellevue in canceling school on Friday
The district said, “fatigue that educators and students are experiencing, locally and nationwide, 11 weeks into the return to in-class learning” was driving the staffing issue.
Kent School District (KSD) also announced they were canceling school on Friday.
Due to staff and substitute shortages, on “Friday, November 12, 2021, our schools will be closed and the central office will be open,” was posted on the KSD website.
SPS did not provide a make-up date while KSD reported the make-up day would be on March 25. We reported yesterday Bellevue Public Schools had canceled class for Friday.
A quirk in the holiday calendar has Veteran’s Day falling on a Thursday. Government offices and services will be closed nationwide, along with banks and there won’t be mail delivery. Because of the federal holiday, many are opting to take Friday off and have a four-day weekend.
“We recognize the late notice creates challenging circumstances for many families. Our hope is that the four-day weekend allows for some level of physical, mental, and emotional rest and recharging.”
A recent survey reported that 40% of school districts nationwide reported a critical shortage of staff and schools closing or moving to remote learning for November 12 has been reported in states such as Colorado and Louisiana.
Travel Advisories
Today, we are downgrading the avoid unnecessary travel advisory for the East Hospital Region to avoid recreational travel. Adams, Asotin, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens, Wahkiakum, and Whitman counties join Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, and Mason counties in the avoid recreational travel advisory. Hospital resources remain limited. It is likely in the next seven days we will end the travel advisory to both regions.
We are maintaining our avoid all nonessential travel advisories for Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, and Montana. The Idaho Panhandle continues to experience an extreme number of Covid-19 hospitalizations. Hospital resources in all of these states are constrained, and you may receive inadequate care if you experience a serious medical emergency.
We continue to maintain our travel advisory for Wyoming and recommend avoiding recreational travel at this time.
Thank you
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Vaccination
Dr. Fauci does not believe a sixth wave is inevitable, if people take action
Yesterday, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (CA-D) spoke with Dr. Anthony Fauci on Facebook Live. During the 31 minute discussion, Eshoo asked Fauci if the United States would experience a “sixth wave” like Europe is having now.
Dr. Fauci did not see a sixth wave as inevitable but set the bar high to prevent it. He stated that 62 million Americans who are eligible for vaccination remain unvaccinated, and getting them vaccinated was a critical priority. He also addressed vaccine and natural immunity fading, and the need for people who are eligible to get booster shots as soon as possible.
If you are eligible for a Covid-19 booster shoot Malcontent News strongly encourages you to not delay getting your second or third dose. It is fast, free, and easy. There is growing evidence that the half-life of Covid-19 vaccines is six to ten months, and the half-life for so-called natural immunity is five to seven months.
King County, Washington is reporting over 89.2% of age eligible residents are vaccinated with at least one dose. The highest rates of positivity are in areas with low vaccination rates statewide. The FDA has provided full approval of the Pfizer vaccine for anyone 16 and over and EUA approval for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The Pfizer vaccine has EUA approval for children 5 to 15 years old.
COVID vaccines and boosters are free for anyone 5 and older. Lyft and Hopelink provide free transportation, and KinderCare, the Learning Care Group, and the YMCA offer free childcare during vaccination appointments or recuperation.
Our belief that there was an issue with the East Hospital Region data was correct. The Washington Department of Health updated the information in today’s report that accurately reflects the situation. However, there appears to be a different error in the data that we suspect will be corrected on Friday or next week.
According to the DoH COVID Dashboard, 91% of all staffed acute care beds are occupied, and 13.6% of patients have Covid-19. This is not a sudden jump from yesterday and reflects a full dataset being provided. Statewide, hospitals have the staff to support approximately 642 additional acute care patients.
ICUs are at 88.3% of capacity statewide, with 23.0% of ICU patients fighting Covid-19 – an estimated 273 patients with 33.4% on ventilators. The state has the staff to support approximately 140 additional ICU patients.
On Tuesday, the 7-day rolling average hospital admission rate for new COVID patients had climbed back up to 111. The Department of Health reported 737 Covid-19 patients statewide on November 8, with 91 requiring ventilators. We believe that data is missing from these numbers. It is highly unlikely more than 200 Covid-19 patients were released in the last 24 hours.
Based on what we believe is accurate data out of the East Hospital Region, we are ending our travel advisory.
Hospital status by region – ICU Occupancy should be below 80%, ICU COVID Patients should be below 20%, Acute Care Occupancy should be below 80%, and Acute Care COVID Patients should be below 10%
– Alcott (19) – Bell (24) – Blackwell (5) – Carson Elementary (10) – Clara Barton (23) – Eastlake High (66) – Ella Baker (6) – Evergreen Middle School (1) – Finn Hill Middle School (5) – Frost (5) – Inglewood Middle School (13) – Juanita Elementary (1) – Juanita High (30) – Kamiakin Middle School (5) – Keller (6) – Kirk Elementary (20) – Lakeview Elementary (7) – Lake Washington High School (7) – McAuliffe (1) – Northstar Middle School (12) – Redmond High School (37) – Renaissance Middle School (1) – Rush Elementary (1) – Sandburg/Discovery (9) – Thoreau (5) – Timberline Middle School (14) – Twain Elementary (2)
None
Northshore
YELLOW
– Arrowhead Elementary (3) – Bothell High School (12) – Canyon Creek Elementary (13) – Canyon Park Middle School (1) – Crystal Springs Elementary (30) – Fernwood Elementary (5) – Frank Love Elementary (8) – Hollywood Hills Elementary (9) – Inglemoor High School (12**) – Kenmore Elementary (16) – Kenmore Middle School (11) – Kokanee Elementary (7) – Leota Middle School (2) – Maywood Hills Elementary (3) – Moorlands Elementary (1) – North Creek High School (7) – Northshore Middle School (34) – Ruby Bridges Elementary (13) – Shelton View Elementary (4) – Skyview Middle School (2) – Sunrise Elementary (5) – Timbercrest Middle School (3) – Wellington Elementary (5) – Westhill Elementary (2) – Woodin Elementary (1) – Woodinville High School (5) – Woodmoor Elementary (5)
None
Local Districts Scorecard – * indicates positive cases only ** indicates 5 or more confirmed positive cases
Malcontent News redefined the school district statuses in early October. Information for classroom and building closures has been a challenge to obtain, both for closures and reopening. We adopted moving any school with more than ten active COVID cases reported into the red, and we’ve adjusted the third column to reflect this change.
A number (X) represents Covid-19 positive and quarantined students and faculty combined. A number with an asterisk (X*) represents Covid-19 positive students and faculty only. Bellevue School District does not report quarantine numbers by the facility. Finally a number with two asterisks (X**) indicates a school facility with five or more confirmed Covid-19 cases in the last 14 days between students and faculty.
The Bellevue School District moved to status green today, having eight confirmed cases in the last 14 days districtwide. The Northshore School District continues to improve with the number of confirmed cases declining at many schools.
We continued to encourage parents to request daily updates from the Lake Washington School District. We would also encourage parents to request the Bellevue School District include data on close contacts. These two changes would bring the three school districts we track into alignment.
Kirkland-Bellevue-Woodinville
No update
National Round-Up
Johns Hopkins University Cumulative Case Tracker reports 79,829 new cases and 1,662 deaths nationwide on Wednesday.
Department of Homeland Security remains concerned about domestic violence exteremists
The Secretary of Homeland Security has issued an updated National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin regarding the current heightened threat environment across the United States effective through February 8, 2022. The Homeland continues to face a diverse and challenging threat environment as it approaches several religious holidays and associated mass gatherings that in the past have served as potential targets for acts of violence. These threats include those posed by individuals and small groups engaged in violence, including domestic violent extremists (DVEs) and those inspired or motivated by foreign terrorists and other malign foreign influences.
Through the remainder of 2021 and into 2022, racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists and anti-government/anti-authority violent extremists will continue to pose a threat to the United States. Pandemic-related stressors have contributed to increased societal strains and tensions, driving several plots by DVEs, and they may contribute to more violence this and next year. If a new Covid-19 variant emerges and new public health restrictions are imposed as a result, anti-government violent extremists could potentially use the new restrictions as a rationale to target government or public health officials or facilities.
Historically, DVEs and individuals inspired by foreign terrorist organizations have targeted crowded commercial facilities, houses of worship, and public gatherings, which have at times caused mass causalities. The continued reopening of commercial and government facilities and the potential for ongoing societal and economic disruptions due to the pandemic, as well as mass gatherings associated with several dates of religious significance over the next few months, could provide increased targets of opportunity for violence, though there are currently no credible or imminent threats tied to any dates or locations.
Fifth Wave in the United States starting to mirror the U.K. as new case numbers nationally plateau
After weeks of plunging U.S. Covid-19 cases, the decline in infections has stalled out according to a report in CNBC.
New infections have dropped to an average of more than 74,000 per day over the past week, a 57% fall from the delta wave’s peak level of 172,500 new cases per day on September 13.
While that surely is good news, the downward trajectory has leveled off in recent weeks, bouncing between 70,000 and 75,000 new cases a day for nearly three weeks, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
“We came from a very high spot, so we had our spike a little bit earlier,” Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, a professor in the departments of pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of Florida College of Medicine, said of her state’s declining cases. She noted that the cooler fall and winter temperatures in the typically tropic climate make it easier for Floridians to spend time outside, where the virus does not spread as easily as it does indoors.
Malcontent News had predicted this seasonality impact. Cases are surging in areas where colder weather has moved people to indoor activities. In 2020 a similar pattern of severe cases in the south during the summer as residents moved to air-conditioned comfort shifting to the north as people moved indoors to keep warm.
Although some are calling the growing number of cases in cooler areas a “sixth wave,” states like Idaho, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado didn’t have the same spike that the Southeastern United States experienced.
Fox News viewers more likely to believe Covid disinformation
People who trust Fox News Channel and other media outlets that appeal to conservatives are more likely to believe falsehoods about COVID-19 and vaccines than those who primarily go elsewhere for news, a study has found.
“It may be because the people who are self-selecting these organizations believe (the misinformation) going in,” said Liz Hamel, vice president and director of public opinion and survey research at Kaiser.
Doctors link being nervous in the service and a failure to stand at attention with prior Covid-19 infection
The number of men in their twenties and thirties seeking help for erectile dysfunction is skyrocketing, and doctors are linking it to the after-effects of being infected with COVID-19.
Doctors around the world are seeing more younger men, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, report they can no longer perform in the bedroom or even be stimulated after they’ve recovered from COVID-19.
“We started to see our first patients with this issue post-COVID as early as last winter,” Greg Girard, manager of the Tulsa Men’s Clinic, told FOX23. “We’ve easily seen recently a more than 35 percent increase in the number of patients coming to us for help.”
“These are men mostly in their mid to late twenties and early thirties. We usually don’t see men seeking help or care until their forties and fifties.”
Girard said it appears the virus lingers in and is damaging the tiny blood vessels in the penis, and even after someone has recovered, the damage remains.
“There is no way to tell the difference between erectile dysfunction caused by COVID and E.D. caused by other factors, but we have ways of scanning and seeing what’s actually going on,” he said.
Sleep apnea severity linked to Covid-19 outcomes
The risk of severe illness from COVID-19 is higher in people with obstructive sleep apnea and other breathing problems that cause oxygen levels to drop during sleep, researchers say. They tracked 5,402 adults with these problems and found that roughly a third of them eventually tested posted for the coronavirus. While the chance of being infected did not increase with the severity of their problems, people with higher scores on the “apnea-hypopnia index” – a measure of the severity of their sleep-related breathing problems – had higher odds of needing to be hospitalized or dying from COVID-19, Drs. Cinthya Pena Orbea and Reena Mehra of the Cleveland Clinic and colleagues reported on Wednesday in JAMA Network Open. It is not clear if treatments that improve sleep apnea, such as CPAP machines that push air into patients’ airways during sleep, would also reduce the risk of severe COVID-19, said Pene Orbea and Mehra.
While crisis standards of care are still officially enabled at approximately 20 of Alaska’s hospitals, hospital officials have said that declining COVID-positive patient counts meant that facilities have not had to act on those standards in the last few weeks.
Nearly 11,000 votes were cast in the Oct. 26 special election, with the Assembly unanimously certifying the results during its Tuesday meeting.
The official reason for the recall attempt stemmed from Zaletel’s attendance at a public meeting in which recall backers say attracted more people than was allowed under COVID-19 protocols at the time.
Colorado
Although the current surge in Colorado is part of the “fifth wave,” it could be an unnerving omen about what awaits other states in the coming months.
Gov. Jared Polis said Wednesday that the state will take new steps such as increasing the number of hospital beds and making indoor events safer as Colorado’s hospital bed capacity has hit an all-time low.
This update came at a meeting of the Governor’s Expert Emergency Epidemic Response Committee (GEEERC), at which state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said that COVID-19 cases have increased rapidly over the past few days.
There are 759 hospital beds available in Colorado, and 1,426 COVID-19 patients are currently hospitalized.
Of those who are currently hospitalized, 79% of them are unvaccinated, she said, adding that unvaccinated patients are 8.9 times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19.
The maximum number of COVID-19 patients that Colorado hospitals can accommodate is about 2,000, and current models show that the state will exceed that number by late next month.
“My world is still fully COVID,” said Combs. She has worked in ICUs for 18 years and has been a nurse for more than 20.
Combs says a great percentage of critical COVID patients now are not merely in disbelief, as she’s witnessed with cancer patients over the years, but disbelievers.
“It’s hard though when you know that you’re doing good for the patients, but they’re yelling at you,” she said. “They’re telling you it’s not real. They’re telling you that you’re a murderer.”
Some believe the hospital is making them sick.
“’I can’t breathe,’” she hears them say. “Exactly. That’s because you have COVID. ‘Well no I don’t have COVID, that’s not real.’ I’ve had these conversations with people.”
“We didn’t lose one, two, three — we lost nine,” the sheriff said, noting that the first death from the virus came in April 2020.
The South Florida SunSentinel reported that black and white photos of the victims were on stage at the church in Sunrise: Deputy Shannon Bennett, 39; Nikima Thompson, 41; Wiley Huff, 73; Lt. Aldemar Rengifo Jr., 54; Pamela Ford, 54; Stephen Adams, 42; Sgt. Shane Owens, 48; Edwin Sanchez, 61; and Tasha Blackwood, 54.
Covid-19 has been the largest killer of law enforcement in 2020 and 2021.
The baby died in October in the Southwest health district, which includes Adams, Canyon, Gem, Owyhee, Payette, and Washington counties. To protect the privacy of the family, additional information about the infant will not be released, according to IDHW.
“Our hearts go out to the family of this child,” said Elke Shaw-Tulloch, administrator for the Idaho Division of Public Health. “Infection with the virus can have devastating impacts on families, and this situation highlights the seriousness of COVID-19.”
While Idaho has made transferring COVID patients to other states a leading economic export, the state legislature is poised to vote on blocking vaccine mandates.
Idaho Association of Commerce & Industry President Alex LaBeau told lawmakers that such a law would put “tyrannical practices on the free market.”
The Legislature is scheduled to reconvene Monday, mainly to pass a law or laws to thwart President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates. But potential laws aimed at preventing Idaho employers from requiring employees to get the coronavirus vaccine is also likely to be introduced by far-right Republican lawmakers.
Most mainstream Republicans are wary of government getting between employers and employees, including Republican House Speaker Scott Bedke and Republican Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder. Both have said lawmakers will look at legislation that would allow the state to initiate legal action over federal vaccine mandates on private employers. The legislation would include $2 million for a potential legal battle.
About a dozen potential laws are expected to be brought forward next week. Those proposed laws are likely to include some from far-right lawmakers that would prevent Idaho employers from requiring employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine. It’s not clear how they will do in the House and Senate if brought forward.
“As we hear about possible legislation from self-proclaimed ‘champions of liberty and limited government’ in support of guaranteed salaries and stripping the rights of entrepreneurs, we couldn’t stand by quietly as this thinly cloaked socialism gets wrapped up in a facade of freedom,” LaBeau wrote.
Editor’s Note: Yes, you read that right, conservative business-owning Republicans are calling far-right Republicans “socialists.”
There are currently 525 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, up from 481 on Monday. Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, 71.6% are unvaccinated and 85% of those listed in intensive care with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.
The number of long-term care facilities reporting a virus outbreak increased from 28 to 29 since Monday.
Iowa is also seeing a late-stage “fifth wave” as the weather has turned cooler and people moved indoors.
Montana
Dr. Justin Buls, the Kalispell site director of the Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana, is also a school trustee on the West Valley School District in the Flathead, and that board last month voted to distance itself from the comments he posted to his Facebook account, which also included updating his profile picture to show a swastika made with syringe needles.
KPAX reported University of Montana spokesman Dave Kuntz said that while Bulls remains affiliated with the university’s physician training program, which includes supervising medical doctors in training, the institution is aware of the comments and the controversy.
“The UM Family Medicine program doesn’t endorse these personal views,” Kuntz said. “We don’t support hate-speech and anti-Semitism, and we expect that of our community members, especially those in critical teaching roles, and expect physicians to act in a way that meets those. Dr. Buls hasn’t lived up to them.”
Repeated messages to Buls by the Daily Montanan via his social media account and through a university spokesperson went unanswered.
However, archived posts from his Facebook account show that he was suspended at least twice from Facebook and independent fact-checkers also flagged several of his posts. In his comments, he also claims the COVID-19 virus was created in a lab and “released on purpose to kill millions of people,” a narrative that is popular in some social media circles but without a factual basis.
That player was still in the hospital Wednesday, though Zimmer said the player is “stable now.” Zimmer added the situation “was scary.”
The Vikings are dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak. The team placed three players — center Garrett Bradbury, guard Dakota Dozier, and safety Harrison Smith — on the Reserve/COVID-19 list Thursday. The team placed two additional players — linebacker Ryan Connelly and practice squad tackle Timon Parris — on that list Monday.
Kirk Cousins, the starting quarterback for the Vikings, is one of the league’s most outspoken critics of the Covid-19 vaccine.
In life, Dr. Christopher Foley was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather. He cycled regularly, played handball, and had a passion for Irish music.
As a physician who trained in internal medicine at the University of Minnesota and became a natural medicine doctor, Foley’s “passion lay truly in taking care of other people,” said his son, Logan.
But through his Vadnais Heights-based practice, Foley also spread falsehoods about the COVID pandemic and vaccines. Foley died in October of complications from Covid-19. He was 71. At his funeral, Foley’s son Logan confirmed his father’s death from COVID and that he was unvaccinated.
Wisconsin
For a second day in a row, testing identified more than 3,000 new coronavirus cases in Wisconsin, as the state saw the highest one-day increase in its death toll in two weeks. At the same time, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, which has dealt with a number of issues with vaccination reporting the past couple of weeks, revised the total number of doses back to Friday’s figure while it solves the latest problems.
The latest DHS report says there are 3,370 more confirmed cases in the past day. This caused the 7-day average to jump again, from 2,295 to 2,453 cases per day, the highest 7-day average in a month.
It comes as no surprise with the rising case numbers this past week that more counties saw their virus activity labels upgraded — or downgraded, depending on your perspective. The DHS says 8 counties have “critically high” virus activity, which is twice as many counties as the last two weeks; 62 counties have “very high” activity, down from 65 counties last week; 2 counties have “high” activity, down from 3 counties. No counties have “moderate” or “low” virus activity.
Knowledge is the best tool to fight against fear. A wise person chooses to be informed so they can make sound decisions. To join the fight against COVID misinformation, you can share this update through your social media platform of choice.
[KING COUNTY, Wash.] – (MTN) Three weeks after the October 18 vaccine mandate deadline, new cases rates are plummeting statewide while the number of vaccinated residents increases. Additionally, hospitalizations have broken through a weeks-long plateau. It is safe to say that Washington is on the other side of the fifth wave.
The Department of Health reported that almost 80% of Washington residents 12 and older have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on Thursday. Remarkably, that’s only good enough to put the state in fourteenth place nationally.
There was a massive decline in the number of acute care patients in the East Hospital Region, and the state is reporting more than 1,000 acute care beds available for the first time since early August.
The Bellevue School District has announced that schools will be closed on Friday due to low staffing levels, pending inclement weather, and Covid-19 protocols.
Despite the good news locally and statewide, there are growing signs that health officials nationally are growing more concerned about a looming sixth wave. Pfizer has formally requested booster shot emergency use authorization of its Covid-19 vaccine for anyone over 18 years old. In Colorado, state health officials have told all residents over 18 years old who are eligible for a booster to seek one. New Mexico health officials partially blamed waning vaccine protection for driving a growing surge in the state.
Emerald Robinson, the White House reporter for Newsmax has been suspended by the agency and permanently banned by Twitter for spreading Covid-19 disinformation. In contrast, Aaron Rodgers is being fined $14,650 by the NFL for attending a Halloween party.
Alaska officials believe the worst is over, however, 20 hospitals are still operating using crisis standards of care.
Howard Breidenbach of Myrtle Beach, Oregon was an anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist who spent 102 days at UW Medical Center in Seattle fighting for his life. He has long COVID and lost everything five years before retirement, and he is now begging others regardless of their politics to get vaccinated.
Finally, a Utah elementary school teacher has been suspended for teaching a lesson about Covid-19 disinformation, racism, and insurrection.
New case rates dropped statewide indicating that the weeks-long plateau and the step down from last week are broken. After 82 days it is becoming increasingly clear the Delta surge in Washington state is coming to an end.
There remains a significant difference between lower-vaccinated counties and counties where at least 70% of the total population is fully inoculated.
Percent of Total Population Fully Vaccinated
Total Population in Group
Average 14-Day New Case Rate
70.00% or above (3 counties)
2,343,250
188.2 (down)
60.00% to 69.99% (4 counties)
1,242,200
308.3 (down)
50.00% to 59.99% (16 counties)
3,454,700
327.6 (down)
40.00% to 49.99% (10 counties)
584,875
322.4 (down)
31.50% to 39.99% (6 counties)
151,850
300.3 (down)
14-Day New Covid-19 Cases per 100K average by Vaccination Rate for Total Population, Adjusted for Population by County
Through November 9, Washington’s statewide 14-day rolling average is 281.6 Covid-19 cases per 100K.
Skagit County remains above 600, with a new case rate of 627.8 per 100K residents.
Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Klickitat, Lewis, Lincoln, Okanagan, Pend Orielle, and Spokane counties have new case rates between 400.0 and 599.9. Cowlitz, Mason, Pend Oreille, and Stevens counties were just under 400.
Thirteen counties representing 3.1 million Washingtonians have a 7 day moving average case rate under 100.
The 7 day new case rate was down for all ages (just slightly for 80 and above) while hospitalizations were mostly unchanged.
Age Group
7-Day Case Rate
7-Day Hospitalization Rate
Ages 0-11
130.2 (down)
0.9
Ages 12-19
133.9 (down)
1.3
Ages 20-34
127.8 (down)
2.7
Ages 35-49
127.5 (down)
6.6
Ages 50-64
103.2 (down)
11.4
Ages 65-79
71.6 (down)
16.7
Ages 80+
76.1
28.6 (up)
7-day case rate and 7-day hospitalization rate is per 100K within the age group – the target for 7-day case rate is <25.0, but there are other factors such as vaccination rates within the age groups, how many total tests within the 7-day period, and the positivity rate within each age group
Almost 80% of Washingtonians 12 and above have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine
The Washington State Department of Health reported 79.6% of Washingtonians 12 and older have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and 73.5% of the state is fully vaccinated.
According to the Mayo Clinic and through November 7, Washington state ranks tenth in the United States for children ages 12 to 17 fully vaccinated, ninth for adults 18 to 64, and eight for seniors 65 and older.
When you consider at least a single dose, Washington drops to 14th place for children ages 12 to 17, 14th for adults 18 to 65, and in a 32-way first-place tie for seniors 65 and older.
The red-blue political divide is also strong in the data. Among children 12 to 17 and adults 18 to 64 the first red state is Utah in 19th place. For seniors over 65, 32 states have achieved >99% vaccinated.
New case rates in Washington started to plummet 16 days after the October 18 vaccine mandate deadline passed for state, educational, and healthcare workers.
Travel Advisories
With new cases starting to decline statewide, we continue to hope the East Hospital Region travel advisory can end in the next 2 to 9 days. For now, we’re maintaining our recreational travel advisory to the region, including Adams, Asotin, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens, Wahkiakum, and Whitman counties. Acute care and ICU capacity remain limited.
Additionally, we are maintaining the travel advisory for the Northwest Hospital Region. The region includes Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, and Mason counties.
We are adding Colorado to our list of states to avoid all nonessential travel. Last Sunday, Governor Jared Polis signed an executive order implementing crisis standards of care. We continue to strongly advise against all nonessential travel to Alaska, Idaho, and Montana. Alaska and the Idaho Panhandle are experiencing an extreme number of Covid-19 hospitalizations. Hospital resources in these regions are constrained, and you may receive inadequate care if you experience a serious medical emergency.
We are downgrading our travel advisory for Wyoming and recommend avoiding recreational travel at this time. The situation has improved significantly in the last two weeks.
Thank you
Thank you to our new subscribers and those of you who have made one-time contributions. On behalf of the entire team, thank you for helping us keep the lights on!
No promotional consideration has been given, or requested from the n95 project or any manufacturer of masks
Vaccination
Pfizer formally requests Covid-19 boosters for adults approved
Pfizer and BioNTech announced they’re formally seeking emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization for a Covid-19 vaccine booster for all individuals over 17 years old.
The submission is based on the results of a Phase 3 trial involving more than 10,000 participants. The trial found boosters were safe and had an efficacy of 95% against symptomatic Covid-19 against the more transmissible Delta variant, which was the dominant strain during the study.
Get Your Booster
If you are eligible for a Covid-19 booster shoot Malcontent News strongly encourages you to not delay getting your second or third dose. It is fast, free, and easy. There is growing evidence that the half-life of Covid-19 vaccines is six to ten months, and the half-life for so-called natural immunity is 5 to 7 months.
If you’re supportive of vaccination, the biggest step you can take to help stop a sixth wave is get your booster shot.
King County, Washington is reporting over 89.2% of age eligible residents are vaccinated with at least one dose. The highest rates of positivity are in areas with low vaccination rates statewide. The FDA has provided full approval of the Pfizer vaccine for anyone 16 and over and EUA approval for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The Pfizer vaccine has EUA approval for children 5 to 15 years old.
COVID vaccines and boosters are free for anyone 5 and older. Lyft and Hopelink provide free transportation, and KinderCare, the Learning Care Group, and the YMCA offer free childcare during vaccination appointments or recuperation.
We continue to believe there is a problem with the state hospitalization data and that information is missing from the East Hospital Region. A more than 30% decline in total acute care patients over a weekend or the addition of almost 350 staffed acute care beds seem unlikely.
According to the DoH COVID Dashboard, 86% of all staffed acute care beds are occupied, and 13.3% of patients have Covid-19. Statewide, hospitals have the staff to support approximately 1,079 additional acute care patients.
ICUs are at 88.7% of capacity statewide, with 24.0% of ICU patients fighting Covid-19 – an estimated 287 patients with 46.4% on ventilators. The state has the staff to support approximately 133 additional ICU patients.
On Tuesday, the 7-day rolling average hospital admission rate for new COVID patients was 109. The Department of Health reported 950 Covid-19 patients statewide on November 8, with 133 requiring ventilators.
Hospital readiness in the East Region has improved dramatically. However, there is no information to indicate there was a surge in staffing or resources to add so many beds over the previous weekend. We have submitted a question to the Washington State Department of Health. If the data is accurate, the travel advisory for the East Region will be lifted immediately.
Hospital status by region – ICU Occupancy should be below 80%, ICU COVID Patients should be below 20%, Acute Care Occupancy should be below 80%, and Acute Care COVID Patients should be below 10%
– Alcott (19) – Bell (24) – Blackwell (5) – Carson Elementary (10) – Clara Barton (23) – Eastlake High (66) – Ella Baker (6) – Evergreen Middle School (1) – Finn Hill Middle School (5) – Frost (5) – Inglewood Middle School (13) – Juanita Elementary (1) – Juanita High (30) – Kamiakin Middle School (5) – Keller (6) – Kirk Elementary (20) – Lakeview Elementary (7) – Lake Washington High School (7) – McAuliffe (1) – Northstar Middle School (12) – Redmond High School (37) – Renaissance Middle School (1) – Rush Elementary (1) – Sandburg/Discovery (9) – Thoreau (5) – Timberline Middle School (14) – Twain Elementary (2)
None
Northshore
YELLOW
– Arrowhead Elementary (4) – Bothell High School (11**) – Canyon Creek Elementary (5) – Canyon Park Middle School (1) – Crystal Springs Elementary (8) – Fernwood Elementary (5) – Frank Love Elementary (6) – Hollywood Hills Elementary (6) – Inglemoor High School (13**) – Kenmore Elementary (16) – Kenmore Middle School (12) – Kokanee Elementary (7) – Leota Middle School (2) – Maywood Hills Elementary (2) – Moorlands Elementary (1) – North Creek High School (7) – Northshore Middle School (57) – Ruby Bridges Elementary (14) – Shelton View Elementary (5) – Skyview Middle School (7**) – Sunrise Elementary (6) – Timbercrest Middle School (2) – Wellington Elementary (5) – Westhill Elementary (3) – Woodin Elementary (1) – Woodinville High School (4) – Woodmoor Elementary (6)
None
Local Districts Scorecard – * indicates positive cases only ** indicates 5 or more confirmed positive cases
We redefined the school district statuses. Information for classroom and building closures has been a challenge to obtain, both for closures and reopening. We are adopting moving any school with more than ten active COVID cases reported into the red, and we’ve adjusted the third column to reflect this change.
There were no significant changes today.
We continued to encourage parents to request daily updates from the Lake Washington School District. We would also encourage parents to request the Bellevue School District include data on close contacts. These two changes would bring the three school districts we track into alignment.
Bellevue School District to close on Friday due to staffing shortages
The Bellevue School District (BSD) announced there would be no classes on Friday, November 12, due to staffing shortages, anticipated inclement weather, and Covid-19 restrictions. Athletics programming for Friday will run as currently scheduled while regularly scheduled afterschool activities are canceled.
Some of the creative solutions we have provided in the past with staff shortages, will not work with the Covid-19 restrictions,” the statement from the District said. “For example, combining classes is not an option at this time.”
Although poor weather is forecasted for Friday, there is nothing in the weather models to indicate a significant wind event or freezing precipitation.
The District also addressed the issue of childcare.
“We recognize that this notice may result in the need for childcare for families. Right at School, our partner in providing childcare is on hand to assist those who wish to get quick access to their services.
Friday, January 28, 2022 will be the makeup day.
Schools were struggling with low staffing levels before the pandemic and in Washington over 97% of school staff got vaccinated or had an exemption approved.
Kirkland-Bellevue-Woodinville
No update
National Round-Up
Johns Hopkins University Cumulative Case Tracker reports 125,350 new cases and 1,207 deaths nationwide on Tuesday.
Pfizer CEO says people who spread COVID misinformation are “criminals”
People who spread misinformation on Covid-19 vaccines are “criminals” and have cost “millions of lives,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Tuesday, in a report by CNBC.
Speaking with Washington D.C.-based think tank Atlantic Council, Bourla said there is a “very small” group of people that purposefully circulate misinformation on the shots, misleading those who are already hesitant about getting vaccinated.
“Those people are criminals,” he told Atlantic Council CEO, Frederick Kempe. “They’re not bad people. They’re criminals because they have literally cost millions of lives.”
Bourla’s comments come as millions of eligible adults in the U.S. have yet to get vaccinated even though the shots have been available to most Americans most of this year. Public health experts say misinformation is likely playing a large role.
Editor’s Note:We agree.
NFL opts for field goal for Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay Packers punishment
The NFL has concluded its review into the Green Bay Packers’ COVID-19 protocols implementation and fined the franchise $300,000 and quarterback Aaron Rodgers and wide receiver Allen Lazard $14,650 each for violations of the league and NFL Players Association protocols, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported Tuesday night.
Rodgers and Lazard’s fines are a result of attending a team-sanctioned Halloween party, Garafolo reported. As both are unvaccinated, they are prohibited from attending gatherings outside team facilities. Per the NFL/NFLPA protocol guidelines, gathering outside of the club facility in a group of more than three players is subject to a $14,650 fine.
The permanent suspension follows a temporary 7-day Twitter suspension Robinson received last week in the wake of false claims she made about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Last week, Robinson tweeted that the Covid-19 vaccines contained a bioluinescent marker called LUCIFERASE so you could be tracked, and claimed it was the mark of the Devil.
The tweet was deleted, and Newsmax suspended Robinson from her duties the same week. The Cheif Content Officer of the conservative news organization was forced to make a statement to minimize damage to the network.
Newsmax has been “a strong proponent that Covid 19 vaccines are overarchingly safe and effective,” said Elliot Jacobson, executive vice president and chief content officer for the network.
State Updates
Alaska
Hospital officials believe that the worst is over in Alaska while 20 hospitals continue to operate using crisis standards of care.
“It feels like we’re at a turning point,” said Jared Kosin, president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association, while speaking to the Anchorage Daily News.
“We’re feeling like the situation (in hospitals) is becoming manageable in a way that it hasn’t been in a long time,” he said.
There were 131 people hospitalized with COVID-19 by Tuesday, state dashboard data showed, with about 14.4% of the state’s hospitalized patients considered to have active cases. That’s a significant decrease from a high of more than 200 people hospitalized on average since September.
In Fairbanks, Memorial Hospital announced they were returning to contingency care.
Alaska’s new case rate, positivity, and ICU availability remain concerning, but the situation is clearly improving.
Colorado
If you’re 18 or older in Colorado, the state says you qualify for a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment says it continues to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation: “You should get a booster dose if you are 18 to 64 years old and at high risk because of where you live or work.”
But CDPHE said that almost everyone 18 or older in the state is at risk in the workplace or where they live, as an estimated 1 in 48 Coloradans is infected with COVID-19. “Because disease spread is so significant across Colorado, all Coloradans (ages 18+) qualify for a booster,” CDPHE said.
The state has also issued a public health order preventing any vaccine provider from refusing a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot to anyone who says they meet the qualifications.
Minnesota
The latest data from the Minnesota Department of Health added 7,173 new cases to the state’s pandemic totals and continued a trend of rising daily cases over the past two weeks, according to a report by the Star Tribune.
Over the weekend, however, the high volume of new cases meant that staffing wasn’t sufficient to review all the data, the Health Department said. The tally reported Tuesday is about 2,500 cases shy of the true count for the 72-hour weekend reporting period.
“That’s pretty alarming that they couldn’t process all the incoming cases,” said Dr. David Boulware, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Minnesota. “I’m becoming more concerned as our hospitalized cases are this high already preinfluenza and, as the weather turns colder, our cases may likely increase just like last year, further straining the limited number of hospital beds in Minnesota.”
More unvaccinated people need to get immunized, Boulware said, “as the majority of hospitalizations and deaths are occurring among the unvaccinated group.”
Across the Allina Health System on Tuesday, 222 out of 297 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were unvaccinated — about 75% of the total. Unvaccinated patients accounted for 56 of the 61 patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units, Allina reported, and 53 of the 58 patients on ventilators.
New Mexico
New Mexico ranks fifth in the country for new COVID-19 cases per capita, according to the CDC and a report by KOB News in Albequerque.
“Even if you’re vaccinated, if you are in a sea of people who are unvaccinated and have COVID, COVID is just two times more transmissible, or contagious, than the original COVID,” said Dr. Laura Parajon, the deputy secretary of the New Mexico Department of Health.
From February through November, more than 80% of COVID-19 cases in New Mexico are from unvaccinated people.
Oregon
An Oregon man is alive and back home after 102 days at UW Medical Center in Seattle due to Covid-19. Howard Breidenbach of Myrtle Creek in southern Oregon admits he did not take the virus seriously.
“This is a conspiracy, just a flu they’re overinflating,” he recalled of his feelings prior to getting sick.
“I thought I was dead,” Breidenbach said. “Couldn’t remember my birthday, couldn’t remember my name.”
“We were set to retire within five years,” he said. “I lost everything.”
During his Zoom interview with KGW Tuesday, Breidenbach was still connected to an oxygen tank and could not suppress his coughing. “The COVID cough never goes away,” he said.
He is now fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and urged people to separate pandemic issues from politics.
Utah
An elementary school teacher in the Alpine School District is under investigation for teaching students an anti-vaccine, pro-insurrection, and racist lesson about the United States.
“As in previous years, schools are holding special flag ceremonies and assemblies to honor parents and grandparents of students who are veterans and to offer thanks to those who continue protecting our freedoms. An isolated incident that occurred on Monday at an elementary school is unfortunate, concerning, and is being investigated by school and district administration. District policy prohibits political advocacy,” the statement reads.
A Dry Creek Elementary parent who asked not to be identified said Larry Law made several references to fighting bullies, including Covid-19 vaccine mandates, and showed images of dictators of predominantly Asian descent as an example of what a bully looks like. The parent called it a “pro-fighting platform.”
“It was just basically full of anti-Asian rhetoric talking about how people getting free handouts like food from the grocery store is anti-American and for lazy people,” the parent said.
The parent also claimed Law expressed his support for the January 6 Insurrection, and that the “government telling us we should get vaccinated is the government being a bully and we need to fight back against the bullies.”
Law helps run an alternative medicine blog called Angie’s Option Grass Roots Movement. The most recent post, dated Tuesday and penned by Law, rails against the FDA’s recent approval of the Covid-19 vaccine for children.
Editor’s Note: Normally, we would not quote the Deseret News. They are a publication known for sharing disinformation, but this story is important. The antivax and antigovernment movement are intertwined, and many vocal antivaccination advocates are embedded in MLM and the supplement trade.
Knowledge is the best tool to fight against fear. A wise person chooses to be informed so they can make sound decisions. To join the fight against COVID misinformation, you can share this update through your social media platform of choice.
[KING COUNTY, Wash.] – (MTN) Three weeks after the vaccination mandate deadline passed for state, healthcare and education workers, the vaccination rate increased dramatically statewide and in King County. New cases continue to drift downward, with Eastern Washington showing the most improvement. Over 7 million Washingtonians now live in counties where at least 50% of all residents are fully vaccinated.
Within our coverage area, the northern half of Kirkland continues to have the third-lowest vaccination rate along the I-405 corridor.
Big Bird got “vaccinated” in front of the public for the second time since 1972, and it’s made some people very mad.
The land border between Canada and the United States reopened for the first time in 20 months. The happiest people in North America about the reopening live in Point Roberts who have ended more than 500 days of exile.
Vaccinations are available for children 5 to 11, and demand is far exceeding the supply. In Seattle, Seattle Public Schools have opened clinics at 54 locations.
Delta VUI-21 growth has slowed down in the U.K., but the variant under investigation continues to spread. Europe is now the epicenter for Covid-19 on the planet, with several Eastern European nations setting new records.
The Washington State Department of Health has updated the Covid-19 vaccination data, and there were significant increases statewide. Twenty-three of 39 counties have at least 50% of the total population vaccinated for COVID, representing 7.04 million people.
New case rates continue to drop in Eastern Washington three weeks after the vaccine mandate deadline for state employees, healthcare workers, and school employees.
Currently, the vaccination data does not include 5 to 11 years, which became vaccine eligible last week. We expect the reporting data to be updated in the coming weeks. There continues to be a significant drop in new case rates in counties where more than 70% of the eligible population are vaccinated.
Percent of Total Population Fully Vaccinated
Total Population in Group
Average 14-Day New Case Rate
70.00% or above (3 counties)
2,343,250
203.7
60.00% to 69.99% (4 counties)
1,242,200
323.1
50.00% to 59.99% (16 counties)
3,454,700
351.1
40.00% to 49.99% (10 counties)
584,875
346.4
31.50% to 39.99% (6 counties)
151,850
342.2
14-Day New Covid-19 Cases per 100K average by Vaccination Rate for Total Population, Adjusted for Population by County
Through November 8, Washington’s statewide 14-day rolling average is 301.9 Covid-19 cases per 100K. Health officials would prefer to see these numbers drop lower as we move closer to the holidays.
Only Skagit County has a case rate between 600.0 to 799.9. Over the weekend, the case rate increased to 657.0. Klickitat was just under 600.
Asotin, Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Klickitat, Lewis, Lincoln, Okanagan, Pend Orielle, and Spokane counties have new case rates between 400.0 and 599.9. Cowlitz, Mason, Pend Oreille, and Stevens counties were just under 400.
Eleven counties have a 7 day moving average case rate under 100, and San Juan and Wahikakum counties were under 25.
The 7 day new case rate was up among adolescents and young adults, ages 50 to 64, and people 80 and above. Hospitalization rates drifted downward except for geriatric patients over 79 years old.
Age Group
7-Day Case Rate
7-Day Hospitalization Rate
Ages 0-11
147.1
0.8
Ages 12-19
150.4 (up)
1.1
Ages 20-34
142.4 (up)
3.1
Ages 35-49
144.7
6.8
Ages 50-64
115.7 (up)
11.6
Ages 65-79
79.7
16.6
Ages 80+
81.2 (up)
26.5 (up)
7-day case rate and 7-day hospitalization rate is per 100K within the age group – the target for 7-day case rate is <25.0, but there are other factors such as vaccination rates within the age groups, how many total tests within the 7-day period, and the positivity rate within each age group
10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine administered across Washington
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) is pleased to announce another significant milestone has been reached in the state’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout. As of November 6, more than 10 million doses of vaccine have been given out across Washington since distribution began in mid-December 2020.
“Giving out 10 million doses of life-saving vaccine is something we should all be proud of here in Washington,” said Umair A. Shah, MD, MPH, Secretary of Health. “Knowing that younger kids can now be protected from the worst outcomes of this virus is an incredible relief, not just for parents and families, but for everyone. The more people vaccinated, the more community protection we have, and that’s good for us all.”
The achievement was reached thanks to the hard work of providers, local and private sector partners, DOH staff, community members, and countless others whose commitment to community health and safety has been vital to our state’s continued success.
Border between British Columbia and Washington reopens after 20 months
Cars lined up at the Peace Arch border crossing to enter Blaine, Washington, as the land border between Canada and the United States opened for the first time in 20 months. Traffic this evening was light after a flood of cars heading south entered Washington state.
No place on Earth was more relieved about the border reopening than the residents of Point Roberts.
Point Roberts is a small Washington town located on the tip of Canada’s Tsawwassen peninsula. It is surrounded by water on three sides and attached to land through Canada only.
When the U.S.-Canadian border closed in 2020, many Canadians were separated from loved ones, friends, and their homes in towns like Point Roberts. American residents were separated from the rest of the United States, having to endure financial and emotional hardship.
“We’re going to be thrilled to get our Canadians back because, like I said before, [they own] 75% of our properties and [contribute] 90% of our economy. We just hope that the Canadians will relax that unnecessary testing,” said Brian Calder, president of the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce told KING 5 News.
On Monday, some Canadian families returned to the Washington town to winterize their homes.
Seattle Public Schools starts vaccination clinics for children ages 5 to 11
Seattle Public Schools (SPS) started running vaccine clinics today that will offer first doses of the Pfizer vaccine to children 5 to 11 at 40 schools during the day and 14 regional clinics on the weekend and evenings through November 23. Second dose clinics will be offered from November 29 to December 14.
SPS vaccine clinics are organized to prioritize families who face more barriers to vaccination while regional clinics are open to all SPS students who are 5 years and older.
Students do not have to be enrolled in that specific school. SPS vaccine clinics are organized to prioritize families who face more barriers to vaccination. Please attend the clinic in the area that is convenient to where you live.
There may be scarcity in vaccine supply in the first few weeks after approval but should stabilize after a few weeks and eventually, everyone will be able to get vaccinated. If a clinic needs to be postponed due to vaccine supply, we will re-schedule the clinic as soon as possible.
At the regional clinics, students under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
The Pfizer vaccination requires two shots. Students should plan to be available for both school clinic dates to receive both doses of the vaccine.
Travel Advisories
With new cases starting to decline statewide, we continue to hope the East Hospital Region travel advisory can end in the next 3 to 10 days. For now, we’re maintaining our recreational travel advisory to the region, including Adams, Asotin, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens, Wahkiakum, and Whitman counties. Acute care and ICU capacity remain limited.
Additionally, we are maintaining the travel advisory for the Northwest Hospital Region. The region includes Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, and Mason counties.
We are adding Colorado to our list of states to avoid all nonessential travel. Last Sunday, Governor Jared Polis signed an executive order implementing crisis standards of care. We continue to strongly advise against all nonessential travel to Alaska, Idaho, and Montana. Alaska and the Idaho Panhandle are experiencing an extreme number of Covid-19 hospitalizations. Hospital resources in these regions are constrained, and you may receive inadequate care if you experience a serious medical emergency.
We are downgrading our travel advisory for Wyoming and recommend avoiding recreational travel at this time. The situation has improved significantly in the last two weeks.
Thank you
Thank you to our new subscribers and those of you who have made one-time contributions. On behalf of the entire team, thank you for helping us keep the lights on!
No promotional consideration has been given, or requested from the n95 project or any manufacturer of masks
Vaccination
Pfizer may seek clearance of Covid-19 booster for ages 18 and up
Pfizer and German partner BioNTech are expected to seek authorization for their COVID-19 vaccine booster shot for people aged 18 and above as soon as this week, according to a report in the Washington Post.
There were multiple reports three weeks ago the FDA and CDC were having talks about lowering the age for booster shots to 40 years old for people who got the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. Data out of the U.K. and Israel have indicated that boosters had a significant impact in reducing hospitalizations and deaths during their most recent surges.
King County, Washington is reporting over 89.2% of age eligible residents are vaccinated with at least one dose. The highest rates of positivity are in areas with low vaccination rates statewide. The FDA has provided full approval of the Pfizer vaccine for anyone 16 and over and EUA approval for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The Pfizer vaccine has EUA approval for children 5 to 15 years old.
COVID vaccines and boosters are free for anyone 5 and older. Lyft and Hopelink provide free transportation, and KinderCare, the Learning Care Group, and the YMCA offer free childcare during vaccination appointments or recuperation.
A significant amount of data from the East Hospital Region was missing in the Monday report. We are not providing updated hospitalization data in today’s report.
On Sunday, the Washington State Department of Health reported 1,007 Covid-19 patients statewide with 159 on ventilators. Hospitalizations are drifting downward after increasing 7% from October 22 to October 29.
– Alcott (19) – Bell (24) – Blackwell (5) – Carson Elementary (10) – Clara Barton (23) – Eastlake High (66) – Ella Baker (6) – Evergreen Middle School (1) – Finn Hill Middle School (5) – Frost (5) – Inglewood Middle School (13) – Juanita Elementary (1) – Juanita High (30) – Kamiakin Middle School (5) – Keller (6) – Kirk Elementary (20) – Lakeview Elementary (7) – Lake Washington High School (7) – McAuliffe (1) – Northstar Middle School (12) – Redmond High School (37) – Renaissance Middle School (1) – Rush Elementary (1) – Sandburg/Discovery (9) – Thoreau (5) – Timberline Middle School (14) – Twain Elementary (2)
None
Northshore
YELLOW
– Arrowhead Elementary (7) – Bothell High School (10**) – Canyon Creek Elementary (5) – Canyon Park Middle School (1) – Crystal Springs Elementary (4) – East Ridge Elementary (1) – Fernwood Elementary (8) – Frank Love Elementary (9) – Hollywood Hills Elementary (6) – Inglemoor High School (16**) – Kenmore Elementary (20) – Kenmore Middle School (24) – Kokanee Elementary (5) – Leota Middle School (1) – Maywood Hills Elementary (3) – Moorlands Elementary (1) – North Creek High School (6) – Northshore Middle School (42) – Ruby Bridge Elementary (5) – Shelton View Elementary (3) – Skyview Middle School (12**) – Sunrise Elementary (1) – Timbercrest Middle School (3) – Wellington Elementary (6) – Westhill Elementary (14) – Woodin Elementary (1) – Woodinville High School (5) – Woodmoor Elementary (14)
None
Local Districts Scorecard – * indicates positive cases only ** indicates 5 or more confirmed positive cases
We redefined the school district statuses. Information for classroom and building closures has been a challenge to obtain, both for closures and reopening. We are adopting moving any school with more than ten active COVID cases reported into the red, and we’ve adjusted the third column to reflect this change.
Highland Middle School in the Bellevue School District has five confirmed Covid-19 cases between faculty and students, which is the biggest change in the area schools.
The Northshore School District had a small surge of cases over the last two weeks that has run its course. The number of schools dealing with 5 or more cases dropped to three over the weekend.
We continued to encourage parents to request daily updates from the Lake Washington School District. We would also encourage parents to request the Bellevue School District include data on close contacts. These two changes would bring the three school districts we track into alignment.
Percentage of King County Residents 12 and older who have received at least one dose of COVID vaccine, November 8, 2021
Vaccination rates for adolescents ages 12 and 19 in North King County continue to lag far behind the rest of the eastside.
Kirkland-Bellevue-Woodinville
King County Public Health updated the vaccination rates by zip code, with the numbers improving throughout the region. The northern half of Kirkland continues to lag behind the rest of the eastside. Bothell and the Juanita-Finn Hill-Kingsgate regions of Kirkland remain below 90% vaccinated and below the King County average.
Percentage of King County Residents 12 and older who have received at least one dose of COVID vaccine, November 8, 2021
Zip Code
Percent vaccinated, at least one dose, 12 and older
98155
>95.0%
98028
91.7%
98011
88.5%
98034
87.0%
98033
>95.0%
98072
>95.0%
98052
>95.0%
98004
>95.0%
98039
>95.0%
98005
>95.0%
98007
92.1%
Vaccination rates for those 12 and older by zip code – at least one dose
National Round-Up
Johns Hopkins University Cumulative Case Tracker reports 21,968 new cases and 119 deaths nationwide on Monday. Most states discontinued reporting Covid-19 related data over the weekend. The Monday report is missing large amounts of data.
Sixth wave watch Delta VUI-21
There is mixed news out of the U.K. and Europe about Delta VUI-21, the AY.4.2 variant of Covid-19. After new cases increased 60% a week for four weeks in a row, growth slowed down. Delta VUI-21 makes up 12% of cases in the U.K. and has been detected in 42 countries.
The variant was first identified in July and is slightly more transmissible than the Delta and Delta Plus variants (Delta AY.4.2 is commonly misnamed Delta Plus). The variant does not appear to be more vaccine-resistant or make people sicker. It may carry a higher viral load when someone is contagious, which is problematic for the unvaccinated, partially vaccinated, and immunocompromised.
The World Health Organization now says that Europe is the new global epicenter for Covid-19, and issued a warning to North American nations to not their guard down too soon. Russia is reporting almost 40,000 cases a day with a record number of deaths. Several oblasts have indicated they may impose even stricter restrictions, including shuttering businesses to try and slow the spread.
Greece, Croatia, Iceland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, and Russia are at or have tied their peaks this week with Finland and Ukraine not far behind.
In contrast, Spain, which is 80% vaccinated, and Portugal, which is 88% vaccinated, have some of the lowest case rates on the planet.
The new surge in Europe is peaking in many countries during the same week airplanes full of international tourist travelers landed at U.S. airports for the first time in 18 months.
A Single dose of REGEN-COV monoclonal antibodies over 81% effective in preventing Covid-19 infections for up to 8 months
The monoclonal antibody treatment, called REGEN-COV, is currently available under an emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 and are at risk of developing severe symptoms. It has also received FDA emergency approval as a post-exposure preventive treatment for some people at high risk for developing severe COVID-19, are not fully vaccinated or are immunocompromised, and have known exposure to the virus.
Four subcutaneous injections of the monoclonal antibody treatment protected uninfected people from contracting COVID-19 by 81.6% during the follow-up period of two to eight months, up from 81.4% after one month. Four injections of the treatment are considered one dose.
Big Bird getting vaccinated makes Senator big mad
Big Bird ruffled some conservatives’ feathers this weekend by announcing that he had been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The beloved Muppet tweeted on Saturday (ha ha – tweeted) that he had gotten the shot, which is newly available for Americans between the ages of 5 and 11.
“My wing is feeling a little sore, but it’ll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy,” he wrote.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, decried Big Bird’s tweet as “government propaganda.”
Sesame Workshop, the production company behind the show which first aired in 1969 and helped launch the career of Jim Henson and beloved Muppets such as Kermit the Frog, moved from PBS to HBO in 2015. In 2020 the show moved again from HBO to the HBO Max streaming service.
It’s not the first time Big Bird was vaccinated as part of an educational campaign. In 1972, the fictional character was vaccinated for Measles on the show Sesame Street.
COVID misinformation is rampant in the United States
More than three-quarters (78%) of U.S. adults either believe or aren’t sure about at least one of eight false statements about the COVID-19 pandemic or COVID-19 vaccines, with unvaccinated adults and Republicans among those most likely to hold misconceptions, a new KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor report shows.
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of unvaccinated adults believe or are unsure about at least half of the eight false statements – more than three times the share of vaccinated adults (19%). Nearly half (46%) of Republicans believe or are unsure about at least half the statements, three times the share of Democrats (14%).
The findings highlight a major challenge for efforts to accurately communicate the rapidly evolving science about the pandemic when false and ambiguous information can spread quickly, whether inadvertently or deliberately, through social media, polarized news sources, and other outlets.
State Updates
Alaska
Alaska on Monday reported 53 more COVID-19 deaths, most of which happened in September, as well as 1,387 new infections logged over the weekend and a continued drop in hospitalizations, according to a report by Anchorage Daily News.
The new COVID-19 cases reported over the weekend follow a trend of decreasing case counts that Alaska has seen recently after several weeks of plateauing daily COVID-19 numbers, a state health official said.
In an emailed statement Monday, Dr. Michael Savitt, chief medical officer at the Anchorage Health Department, wrote that the department is “cautiously optimistic,” about recent decreasing COVID-19 trends for the city, but that Anchorage continues to be in a “high-risk environment.”
“Hospitals remain at near capacity levels,” Savitt wrote. “We hope to see those numbers start to decrease soon as well.”
There were 128 people hospitalized with COVID-19 by Monday, state dashboard data showed, with about 13.6% of the state’s hospitalized patients considered to have active cases of the virus. That’s a decrease from recent weeks when often one in five patients had a case of the virus.
Florida
The first hospital in the state of Florida to treat a coronavirus patient is now celebrating another first: No COVID patients in its care since the pandemic began, Fox News reported.
“There’s been a lot of progress done in a very short period of time. So it’s a great thing for everybody,” chief nursing officer of Doctor’s Hospital in Sarasota, Todd Haner, said at a press conference on Friday. “I can tell you that the morale is much better.”
Doctor’s Hospital had the first COVID-19 patient in the state back in February 2020 and has been treating virus patients since. But last week, that all changed when the hospital reported not having a single COVID patient.
Idaho
Idaho’s seven-day moving average of new COVID-19 cases fell below 700 per day for the first time since August, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare data showed Monday. The decline comes a month after caseloads hit a peak across the state, though health officials still reported more than 1,100 new cases and 34 deaths since Friday, according to the Idaho Statesman.
The moving average, which indicates how many cases have been reported each day on average over the past week, was 689 on Monday, the lowest it’s been since Aug. 26. That metric is nearly half of the moving average of 1,365 set one month ago, during the height of Idaho’s most recent surge.
Though recent data shows caseloads trending downward in Idaho, the state still reported 1,192 new COVID-19 cases since Friday. About 29% of those cases — 351 — were reported in Ada County. But the state’s most populous county saw its seven-day moving average for new cases fall to 196 per day on Monday, the first time it has been less than 200 since mid-September.
To date, Idaho has reported 297,140 cases and 3,678 COVID-related deaths. More than 500 of those deaths, or about 15% of the state’s total, were reported in the past 30 days.
Montana
There were 908 new COVID-19 cases reported Monday, Nov. 8 in Montana, with 7,815 total active cases in the state, in a report by KTVQ.
The number of people actively hospitalized due to COVID is 351, an increase from the 343 hospitalizations reported on Friday. The cumulative number of hospitalizations in Montana due to the virus is 9,154, with the state reporting 31 new hospitalizations since their last report. To date, roughly 1 in 20 (5.05%) reported COVID-19 cases in the state have resulted in hospitalization.
New Hampshire
The number of active COVID-19 cases in New Hampshire is now at its highest level since January, before vaccines were widely available, according to WMUR.
According to the state Department of Health and Human Services, there are now 5,164 current COVID-19 cases, the highest total since January 29.
More than 26% of the newly announced cases are in children under the age of 18.
The state’s seven-day total test positivity rate has risen to 7.2%, which is the highest that rate has been since Jan. 7.
The number of current hospitalizations has moved up again and is at 212 as of Monday.
North Dakota
A North Dakota lawmaker and an organizer of a rally Monday to oppose COVID-19 vaccine mandates is infected with the coronavirus and won’t attend the event, KSTP Channel 5 reported.
Republican Rep. Jeff Hoverson posted on Facebook Sunday that he was “quarantining and each day is getting better.” The Minot lawmaker said he is taking the deworming drug ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment and has not checked into a hospital.
“Covid is real and like a really bad flu,” Hoverson wrote.
Hoverson, a pastor, told The Associated Press that was diagnosed last week.
“I’m feeling rough,” he said Monday. “But this ivermectin is keeping me out of the hospital.”
Ivermectin is designed to fight parasitic infections but conservative commentators have promoted it as a treatment for COVID-19, despite a lack of conclusive evidence that it helps.
Texas
Unvaccinated Texans died from COVID-19 at 40 times the rate of vaccinated Texans and were 45 times more likely to test positive for the disease in 2021, according to a new study from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
DSHS reviewed vaccination, death, and tests records from Jan. 15 to Oct. 1 to come up with the figures, according to WFAA.
“We have millions and millions of records that we had to go through for this analysis,” said Dr. Jennifer Shuford, DSHS’s chief epidemiologist.
According to the review, 7.7% of deaths and 3% of positive cases in the January – October time frame were in fully-vaccinated Texans.
“We know that there’s all these bad outcomes for actually getting COVID-19, but the complications from the vaccine are very few and impact very few people,” Shuford said. “What we hope is that people across Texas will understand the threat of COVID-19.”
[GREEN BAY, Wisc.] – (MTN) In three days, Aaron Rodger’s fall from grace has been spectacular. An NFL career that has spanned 17 years with the Green Bay Packers, with the first three years in the shadow of Brett Farve and his I’m retiring, no I’m not, yes I am drama. He is a three-time NFL MVP, Super Bowl XLV champion, and his entire career is with Green Bay. A lie about his COVID vaccination status, egregious breaches of NFL Covid-19 protocols, a positive test, and a deep fall into the disinformation rabbit hole has put the Packers and the NFL in a well-deserved hot seat.
On August 30, 2021 the NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed on updated COVID protocols for the 2021 regular season. Unvaccinated players are required to be tested daily regardless of schedule or status. They are not permitted to enter any facilities or interact with other team members until they know their test results. If an unvaccinated player was in close contact with a person who tested positive, they must isolate for five days.
On October 24, Green Bay played Washington, where Rodgers threw to Davante Adams seven times. The next day, Adams tested positive for Covid-19. By protocol, Rodgers should have immediately started a five-day quarantine. It is undeniable he was a close contact. Adams and Rodgers would have been in multiple huddles on the field, talked on the bench, and interacted in the locker room. The five-day quarantine rule would have made Rodgers ineligible to play on October 29. The Packers defeated the Arizona Cardinals in that game, who were undefeated before Thursday night. That win for the Packers could have playoff implications.
Additionally, Rodgers is required by NFL rules to wear a mask when indoors and during weight training. He has not worn a mask during media availability or by all reports in the clubhouse or locker room.
Rodgers lied on August 20 when he said he was immunized. Rodgers tried to get an exemption from vaccination after seeking alternative homeopathic treatment to boost his immune system, which the NFL denied. Green Bay knew he wasn’t vaccinated, and they broke protocol. When Rodgers should have been riding the pine, he took to the field. That’s called cheating.
Aaron Rodgers confirmed he's had the COVID-19 vaccine.
"Yeah I've been immunized." he said. "There's guys on the team that haven't been vaccinated and it's personal decision, not going to judge those guys."
In 2015 a different quarterback was embroiled in a cheating scandal. Tom Brady was accused of ordering New England Patriots staffers to lower the pressure in game balls because it allegedly gave him a better grip. Over two years, the NFL spent ridiculous amounts of money on an investigation that turned every armchair quarterback into experts on physics, the Ideal Gas Law, obscure NFL rules on the control, testing, and use of game balls, and federal law.
Brady’s use of footballs that were less than 1 PSI under regulation and the convenient destruction of a cellphone he was asked to retain ended with a four-game suspension at the start of the 2016 season.
In the end, Brady started playing again with the Patriots 3-1. He would go on to have an 11-1 record for the rest of the regular season. The Patriots would go to the Super Bowl, and Brady led the team to the most remarkable comeback in Super Bowl history. Down 28 – 3, Brady carved up the Atlanta Falcons for the first Super Bowl overtime game in history. The Patriots racked up 31 unanswered points and won 34-28.
It’s also worth pointing out that Rodgers appeared to defend Brady at the height of Deflategate in an offhand comment about how Rodgers liked playing with his balls overinflated. Ironically, just days before Covidgate broke, Rodgers talked with Phil Simms about Deflategate and how his comment was a “ridiculous narrative.”
Rodgers isn’t the first NFL player to say things some Americans would find controversial. Colin Kaepernick appeared to have a promising NFL career ahead of him. During his first full season in 2012, he led the 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII. Had he not played five snaps in 2011, he would have been the first rookie quarterback to make it to the big game in NFL history.
On his way to the Super Bowl, he squared off against Rodgers and the Packers in his first career playoff game – leading San Francisco to a 45 – 31 victory. He had endorsement deals, an intense rivalry between the Seahawks and 49ers started to take hold, and he was part of what many believed would be the next generation of elite quarterbacks.
Kaepernick’s 2015 season was a disaster. He fought with new head coach Jim Tomsula who lasted just one season. He was benched after seven games and then deactivated for the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury that required three surgeries. In February 2016, he wanted out of San Francisco.
In the lead-up to the start of the 2016 season, Kaepernick became increasingly socially engaged. In July, he posted on social media about the police shootings of Alton Sterling, Philandro Castile, and Charles Kinsey. At the third pre-season game of the year, reporter Steve Wyche noticed Kaepernick sitting on the bench instead of standing for the National Anthem. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder,” was Kaepernick’s reply.
No one had noticed Kaepernick had not taken to the field for the previous two games.
NFL player Nate Boyer, who played one game with the Seattle Seahawks and was a U.S. Army green beret with combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, gave Kaepernick advice. He told him privately it would be more respectful to kneel during the National Anthem, believing that Kaepernick could make his statement while showing respect to military veterans.
The backlash was ferocious and became fodder for the 2016 Presidential election. Pundits and politicians tore into Kaepernick, and by the end of the season, he was a free agent. He practiced with the Seattle Seahawks in 2017 to no avail. The local media response was swift and furious, and Kaepernick was excommunicated. Pete Carroll, the Seahawks head coach, would express regret in not signing Kaepernick to be Russell Wilson’s backup three years later.
The NFL would reach an “undisclosed settlement” with Kaepernick – rumors put the amount north of $20 million. In late November, the NFL set up a “workout” where teams could evaluate his readiness for a possible return to the field. Instead of holding the workout session on a traditional Tuesday, the NFL switched the schedule to Saturday, when most NFL teams prepare for Sunday games. The workout session was dismissed as a farce.
Kaepernick was canceled by a “mob” for following the advice of a combat veteran to protest injustice to Black Americans peacefully. The same people that canceled Kaepernick in 2016 would be screaming into social media during Black Lives Matter protests, “why can’t they just protest peacefully?”
People who follow the anti-vaccination movement have an expression for people who claim rules and scientific evidence are wronging them. The wails of injustice and outrage are called an “oppression kink.”
After discovering the “immunized” lie, the Packers’ cheating, the attempted cover-up, and then the positive test, the best course of action for Rodgers would have been to ride the socially distanced pine for ten days. Instead, Rodgers went on the Pat McAfee Show on Friday and self-destructed.
Rodgers insisted he isn’t “a anti-vax, flat-earther” but rather “a critical thinker.” He claimed he was a victim of a “woke mob” coming to cancel him, and he is the victim of a “witch hunt.” He compared his struggle and to those who don’t want to get vaccinated to the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and slain leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The choice of the words “woke mob” and the MLK comparison is stunning when you look through the lens of how pundits, politicians, players, and the NFL handled Colin Kaepernick. The NFL invested more money and scientific resources into the air pressure of 12 footballs in what New England Patriots fans still call a “witch hunt” than the NFL invested in investigating Aaron Rodgers’s holistic medicine “immunization” program.
While talking with McAfee, Rodgers would go on to say, “This idea that it’s a pandemic of the unvaccinated, it’s just a big total lie.”
Unvaccinated individuals are 11 times more likely to die of COVID. The unvaccinated have plunged Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado into crisis standards of care and brought Washington, Oregon, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida to the very brink earlier this year.
“If the vaccine is so great, then how come people are still getting COVID and spreading COVID and, unfortunately, dying of COVID,” Rodgers quipped.
No vaccination is 100% effective, and some vaccines work not by preventing an infection outright but by blunting the severity of infection to avoid hospitalization and death. The original polio vaccine, the influenza vaccine, and the pneumonia vaccine are examples of this. Fully vaccinated immunocompromised individuals for disease beyond COVID are still at risk for infection. Gen Xers who got the MMR vaccines have been advised to get a booster as data has shown the measles part of the MMR doesn’t provide a lifetime of protection. Breakthrough COVID infections are a tiny part of total hospitalizations and deaths in the United States.
Rodgers advocated for the use of Ivermectin and claimed he was taking it. Full stop. If Ivermectin was effective as a preventative, why did Rodgers get COVID? He then went full conspiracy theory, including expressing issues with potential infertility, claiming we lack knowledge or understanding of mRNA-based vaccines and praising Joe Rogan for his medical advice.
Tom Brady didn’t use his fame and a national platform to spread medical disinformation that is literally killing people. However, he was benched for four games for the crime of destroying a cell phone and playing half-a-game with deflated balls.
Colin Kaepernick never endangered his teammates, their families, or the people that interacted with him. Kaepernick took a knee for social justice and tried to educate America about racial inequality for Black Americans. Four years later, his former sponsors, the NFL, NFL Commissioner Rodger Goodell, and Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks, couldn’t line up fast enough to go, “we were wrong, sorry.” He still isn’t playing football, and he almost certainly never will. For the sin of taking a knee, Kap was blackballed forever after taking the good-natured advice of a military veteran.
Aaron Rodgers has created a massive problem for the NFL. He has revealed himself as a person wrapped in conspiracy theories, an anti-vaxxer, and a person with an oppression kink. If he’s fined and suspended like Brady, he’ll cry witch hunt. If he’s drummed out of the NFL with still years left to play, he’ll cry it was the fault of a woke mob.
If the NFL does nothing, fans should cry foul. Rodgers broke the rules of the game. Green Bay and the coaching staff did not follow NFL rules and didn’t bench Rodgers on October 25. These are cold hard facts. There are established penalties for breaking these rules. At the bare minimum, the Packers and Rodgers need to face the consequences.
Rodgers sponsors will have to decide how they want to move forward on the issue of medical disinformation. Tonight his list of sponsors is one fewer, with Prevea Healthcare walking away for its relationship. Adidas, Panini, Bose, TaylorMade, State Farm, and Zenith have not made any statements at this time, but the public relations disaster hit on Friday afternoon.
The biggest irony of all might go back to Tom Brady. Brady is deep into the junk science of alkaline foods and aligned with nutritionist Alex Guerrero. His degree is from a school that lost accreditation three years after he graduated. Guerrero was sanctioned for claiming he is a doctor capable of curing AIDS, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and Parkinson’s disease through his exclusive supplement Supreme Greens. Brady not only follows Guerrero’s program, he promotes and advocates it. His support of Guerrero’s junk science is considered a significant reason he ultimately left the New England Patriots.
Knowledge is the best tool to fight against fear. A wise person chooses to be informed so they can make sound decisions. To join the fight against COVID misinformation, you can share this update through your social media platform of choice.
[KING COUNTY, Wash.] – (MTN) Although new cases statewide were almost unchanged, they are plummeting in the rural counties of Washington. Hospitalization data for Covid-19 patients receiving acute care also is looking promising. If the state can maintain these trends past Thanksgiving and COVID VUI-21 doesn’t get a foothold in the United States – let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
The number of new Covid-19 cases in Washington was steady but a couple of really interesting trends are happening this week.
We had predicted that the return of cold rainy weather would have a split impact in Washington. For densely populated areas infection rates would creep upward with more people moving back indoors. In rural areas, we predicted the rates would decline as people become more isolated and the peak of farming activity winds down. We also predicted this wouldn’t be a one size fits all situation because vaccination rates, age, race, and income levels would also have some impact.
This is exactly what we’re seeing. Washington has 12 counties with fewer than 25,000 residents. Only one, Klickitat, has not seen a sharp decline in Covid-19 cases in the last two weeks. Although case rates in Ferry County are still high (568.9) it is 60% below its peak from two weeks ago.
Five Washington counties have more than 500,000 residents, and case rates are declining much slower in those areas. Vaccination rates are just part of the equation and this sudden drop in Eastern Washington started 14 days after the October 18 vaccine mandate deadline. Cause is not correlation, but the mandate is certainly one of several factors driving new cases down east of the Cascades.
We will likely see a shift in infection patterns seven to 14 days after Thanksgiving weekend.
For the first time, new case rates are essentially the same in all but the most vaccinated counties, which continue to remain significantly lower.
Percent of Total Population Fully Vaccinated
Total Population in Group
Average 14-Day New Case Rate
70% or above (3 counties)
2,343,250
202.3
60.00% to 69.99% (4 counties)
1,242,200
335.0
50.00% to 59.99% (15 counties)
3,433,900
350.4
40.00% to 49.99% (9 counties)
599,225
352.5
31.20% to 39.99% (8 counties)
158,300
346.0
14-Day New Covid-19 Cases per 100K average by Vaccination Rate for Total Population, Adjusted for Population by County
Through November 3, Washington’s statewide 14-day rolling average is 303.6 Covid-19 cases per 100K. If this trend can continue hospitalizations should start to decline faster in two to three weeks.
Only Skagit County has a case rate between 600.0 to 799.9 – and after peaking at 669 has dropped to 616.3.
Asotin, Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, Grant, Klickitat, Lewis, Okanagan, and Spokane counties have a new case rate between 400.0 and 599.9. Cowlitz, Mason, Pend Oreille, and Stevens were just under 400.
Eleven counties have a 7 day moving average case rate under 100 and Columbia, Garfield, and San Juan are under 25.
The 7 day case rate was unchanged for most age groups and slightly down for people 80 and older. Hospitalization rates were mixed but didn’t indicate a significant trend.
Age Group
7-Day Case Rate
7-Day Hospitalization Rate
Ages 0-11
133.8
0.7
Ages 12-19
125.7
1.3 (up)
Ages 20-34
124.6
3.9
Ages 35-49
139.0
7.3
Ages 50-64
105.1
10.8 (down)
Ages 65-79
78.2
17.2
Ages 80+
74.6 (down)
20.3
7-day case rate and 7-day hospitalization rate is per 100K within the age group – the target for 7-day case rate is <25.0, but there are other factors such as vaccination rates within the age groups, how many total tests within the 7-day period, and the positivity rate within each age group
With new cases starting to decline statewide, we continue to hope the East Hospital Region travel advisory can end in the next six to 13 days. For now, we’re maintaining our recreational travel advisory to the region, including Adams, Asotin, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens, Wahkiakum, and Whitman counties. Acute care and ICU capacity remain limited.
Additionally, we are maintaining the travel advisory for the Northwest Hospital Region. The region includes Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, and Mason counties.
We are adding Colorado to our list of states to avoid all nonessential travel. On Sunday, Governor Jared Polis signed an executive order implementing crisis standards of care. We continue to strongly advise against all nonessential travel to Alaska, Idaho, and Montana. Alaska and the Idaho Panhandle are experiencing an extreme number of Covid-19 hospitalizations. Hospital resources in these regions are constrained, and you may receive inadequate care if you experience a serious medical emergency.
We are downgrading our travel advisory for Wyoming and recommend avoiding recreational travel at this time. The situation has improved significantly in the last two weeks.
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Vaccination
Vaccinate Washington web portal now includes Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric ages 5 to 11 vaccine locator
Despite up to 316,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 expected to arrive in Washington this week, officials are asking for patience and kindness as parents scramble to make appointments. The Washington State Vaccine Locator provided by the Washington State Department of Health has added Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric ages 5 to 11 as a filter for searching for appointments and locations.
To find a location for your child, or a booster for yourself, you only need to provide your zip code at the Vaccinate WA website. On the results page, you can click on the down arrow to add filters, and select Pfizer-BioNTech Pediatric age 5 – 11.
A search this afternoon provided four locations in Seattle including Docere Center for Natural Medicine, UW Medicine at two locations, and Harborview Medical Center.
King County, Washington is reporting over 88.6% of age eligible residents are vaccinated with at least one dose. The highest rates of positivity are in areas with low vaccination rates statewide. The FDA has provided full approval of the Pfizer vaccine for anyone 16 and over and EUA approval for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
COVID vaccines and boosters are free for anyone 5 and older. Lyft and Hopelink provide free transportation, and KinderCare, the Learning Care Group, and the YMCA offer free childcare during vaccination appointments or recuperation.
According to the DoH COVID Dashboard, 91% of all staffed acute care beds are occupied, and 14.7% of patients have Covid-19. Statewide, hospitals have the staff to support approximately 657 additional acute care patients. The ratio of acute care Covid-19 patients is down in every hospital region. We should start to see a faster decline in ICU utilization in the next 10 to 20 days. Regrettably, some of that decrease will be driven by fatalities.
ICUs are at 88.5% of capacity statewide, with 25.0% of ICU patients fighting Covid-19 – an estimated 294 patients with 58.0% on ventilators. The state has the staff to support approximately 138 additional ICU patients.
On Wednesday, the 7-day rolling average hospital admission rate for new COVID patients was 94. The Department of Health reported 1,004 Covid-19 patients statewide on November 3, with 172 requiring ventilators.
Hospital Region readiness was largely unchanged from yesterday. The East Hospital Region is showing signs of improvement and if the trend continues, the travel advisory will likely be downgraded or lifted next week.
Hospital status by region – ICU Occupancy should be below 80%, ICU COVID Patients should be below 20%, Acute Care Occupancy should be below 80%, and Acute Care COVID Patients should be below 10%
– Alcott (5) – Bell (24) – Blackwell (5 – see notes) – Carson Elementary (6) – Clara Barton (3) – Eastlake High (48) – Ella Baker (6) – Finn Hill Middle School (6) – Frost (5) – ICS (4) – Juanita Elementary (1) – Juanita High (17) – Kamiakin Middle School (25) – Keller (6) – Kirk Elementary (10) – Lakeview Elementary (7) – Lake Washington High School (7) – McAuliffe (1) – Muir Elementary (1) – Redmond Middle School (1) – Redmond High School (52) – Rockwell (2) – Sandburg/Discovery (4) – Timberline Middle School (28) – Twain Elementary (15)
None
Northshore
YELLOW
– Arrowhead Elementary (7) – Bothell High School (15**) – Canyon Creek Elementary (4) – Canyon Park Middle School (2) – Crystal Springs Elementary (19) – East Ridge Elementary (3) – Fernwood Elementary (5) – Frank Love Elementary (11) – Hollywood Hills Elementary (7) – Inglemoor High School (16**) – Kenmore Elementary (22) – Kenmore Middle School (18) – Kokanee Elementary (8) – Lockwood Elementary (7**) – Maywood Hills Elementary (3) – Moorlands Elementary (1) – North Creek High School (19**) – Northshore Middle School (12) – Ruby Bridge Elementary (9**) – Shelton View Elementary (6) – Skyview Middle School (18**) – Sunrise Elementary (4) – Timbercrest Middle School (5) – Wellington Elementary (9**) – Westhill Elementary (19) – Woodin Elementary (10**) – Woodinville High School (6**) – Woodmoor Elementary (6)
None
Local Districts Scorecard – * indicates positive cases only ** indicates 5 or more confirmed positive cases
We redefined the school district statuses. Information for classroom and building closures has been a challenge to obtain, both for closures and reopening. We are adopting moving any school with more than ten active COVID cases reported into the red, and we’ve adjusted the third column to reflect this change.
There was a parent confirmed Covid-19 case reported at Blackwell Elementary in the Lake Washington School District on Monday and an additional parent confirmed COVID case on Tuesday, including three in quarantine. Because LWSD updates data weekly, we add a footnote for parent-reported cases during the week.
Woodinville High School in the Northshore School District now has five confirmed Covid-19 cases, adding two more this morning.
We continued to encourage parents to request daily updates from the Lake Washington School District. We would also encourage parents to request the Bellevue School District include data on close contacts. These two changes would bring the three school districts we track into alignment.
Kirkland-Bellevue-Woodinville
Kirkland Health Fair and Community Vaccination Event on November 6
The Kirkland Health Fair and Community Vaccination Event will be held on Saturday, November 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m at Juanita High School. Hosted by the City of Kirkland in partnership with Public Health – Seattle and King County, the event will provide Covid-19 vaccination, information, education, and more.
The City of Kirkland has confirmed that vaccinations for 5 to 11-year-olds will not be available.
Save the date! The Kirkland Health Fair and Community Vaccination Event takes place 10 am – 2 pm, Sat 11/6 at Juanita High School. We are partnering with @KCPubHealth to provide COVID-19 vaccinations, vaccine info & education, & much more! More information to come. pic.twitter.com/JJcFnqggrJ
Johns Hopkins University Cumulative Case Tracker reports 83,501 new cases and 1,904 deaths nationwide on Wednesday.
Brief summary for the nation today. There are five states with at least one hospital operating under crisis standards of care – Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. The states are first, fifth, tenth, second, and fourth for new Covid-19 cases respectively.
State Updates
Taking the night off
Disinformation
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Journalists, activists, and researchers defending the First Amendment
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