Tag Archives: covid

Breaking News, Health and Lifestyle, National

Investigation Into COVID Test Firm Lab Elite Leads to Federal Indictment for Co-Founder

[CHICAGO, Il.] – (MTN) A January 2022 investigation into Chicago COVID-19 testing firm Lab Elite resulted in the federal indictment of Zishan Alvi, 44, of Inverness, Illinois, on ten counts of wire fraud and one count of theft of government funds.

The federal indictment alleges Alvi “knowingly devised, intended to devise, and participated in a scheme to defraud the government by causing Laboratory A to submit fraudulent claims and delivering inaccurate and unreliable test results to the public.  The fraudulent claims sought reimbursement for purported tests when Alvi knew that (a) Laboratory A had not performed a test for COVID-19; (b) Laboratory A had modified a test for COVID-19 such that the results were unreliable; and (c) Laboratory A already had collected payment from the individuals who purportedly had been tested.”

On February 4, 2022, Malcontent News released its investigation into Lab Elite, co-owned by Nikola Nozinic and Zishan Alvi. Our investigation found that Lab Elite was stepping in to provide lab services at former Center for COVID Control and FCTS locations operating under the Testative brand. The Center for COVID Control closed while under multiple state and federal investigations, and Testative was closed by Northshore Clinical Labs when the company caught the attention of state and federal regulators.

Our investigation found that Nozinic and Alvi used a series of shell companies and acquired struggling testing firms to secure NPI and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) numbers required to receive over $80 million in federal reimbursement for COVID testing through the HRSA Uninsured Program created by the CARES Act. According to the Testative website and our investigation, Lab Elite was providing lab services for pop-up testing firm Testative. A second investigation by Malcontent News, published on February 5, 2022, found that Testative sites in Delaware had “deficiencies including not having a CLIA number.” The test sites were ordered closed by a Delaware judge and never reopened.

The indictment alleged “Alvi directed Laboratory A employees to falsely indicate in Laboratory A’s records that COVID-19 tests had been performed for these individuals when Alvi knew that the test specimens had been discarded at his own direction and had not been tested. It is further part of the scheme that, in order to conceal the fact that tests were not performed, Laboratory A did not release positive COVID-19 results on specimens where tests were eventually performed because a purported negative result had already been released.” 

“The charges, in this case, allege that the defendant disregarded public health concerns in favor of personal financial gain. Doing so by compromising taxpayer-funded programs intended to fight the spread of coronavirus was particularly reprehensible,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual. “I commend the work of our law enforcement partners who investigated this complex fraud scheme. Our office will relentlessly continue to bring to justice those who defrauded the government’s pandemic relief initiatives.”

Alvi is accused of redirecting federal funds “for personal expenditures, including for vehicle purchases and investments in stocks and cryptocurrency.” The federal government is seeking the forfeiture of at least $6.8 million in allegedly ill-gotten gains, in addition to five luxury cars and funds from trade and investment accounts.

A promotional video created by Lab Elite showed multiple violations of United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lab and testing protocols. The video showed the door to the lab open to the reception area, no sinks or handwashing stations in the lab area, unmasked technicians, including one person in a designated BLS2 area, and people administering COVID tests without wearing eye protection and using ill-fitting masks that were not N-95 rated.

“The defendant defrauded the American people at a time when we were most vulnerable, in the midst of a global pandemic. This indictment shows that the FBI, along with our law enforcement partners, is continually working to keep Americans safe and uphold the Constitution as our mission demands of us,” said Special Agent in Charge Wheeler.

Each count of wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison, and the count of theft of government funds is punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison.

Five Facts, Health and Lifestyle, Local

Nick Rolovich, Former WSU Coach, Files Wrongful Termination Suit

Five Fast Facts

  • Rolocich applied for a religious exemption, but it was denied; WSU said at the time that they could not make appropriate accommodations for the head coach because the job required in-person interaction with hundreds of people a week
  • The former coach appealed his firing, first to the athletic director and then to the University President; both appeals failed to convince the school to reverse the firing.
  • For all state employees, even if a religious exemption was approved, the final decision rests with the supervisor and revolves around the ability to make appropriate accommodations for the employee’s unvaccinated status—accomodations that would require limited in-person interactions with other people
  • Rolovich has not publicly shared what his exact religious opposition to vaccination is and has publicly announced that he is not against vaccination in general or the choices others make to receive the vaccine

PULLMAN, WA—The former Washington State University (WSU) head football coach has followed up on his plans to sue the state of Washington by filing a tort suit against the state.

Rolovich was fired from WSU in October 2021 after he said he would not receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Rolovich applied for a religious exemption from Gov. Jay Inslee’s mandate requiring all state employees to get vaccinated for COVID-19. His religious exemption was denied by WSU. They said that they could not make appropriate accommodations for Rolovich if he was unvaccinated.

For further reading, visit King 5.

Breaking News, Health and Lifestyle, Local

COVID Variant BA.5 is Becoming the New Dominate Strain in Washington

[KIRKLAND, Wash.] – (MTN) Health officials and epidemiologists are sounding the alarm about the latest COVID variants, BA.4 and BA.5, spreading across the United States and quietly driving up hospitalizations at an alarming rate.

COVID BA.5, and its close cousin BA.4, not only share mutations with the highly infectious original Omicron strain but has some of the mutations that caused the Delta variant to attack the deep lung tissues and additional adaptations that escape an immune response, including memory T cells. Data out of South Africa for BA.4 showed the R0, a measure of how easily a contagious disease can spread, was 18.6, with a real-world R0 of 10.0 to 12.0.

Previous variants including the original Omicron strains required 15 to 60 minutes of close contact to build up a viral load to cause an infection. The new strains, which represent 40% of new cases in Washington state according to the University of Washington Virology Lab, can be passed along through casual contact. Although masks are not required by regulations anywhere in the United States, healthcare professionals are urging people to mask up again. Including those who had previous infections and the vaccinated.

The current vaccinations are based on the original strain of COVID, which has since mutated tens of thousands of times, producing five major waves that swept the planet. Alpha, Delta, Omicron, Omicron BA 2.12.1, which caused a spike of new cases in Washington in late May and June, and now Omicron BA.5. Each mutation has adapted to bypass our immune systems and therapeutics. COVID variant-specific boosters are expected to be available in the fall.

It is a common belief that viruses always get weaker when they evolve, but that isn’t true. COVID, SARS, and MERS are all part of the coronavirus family which includes the common cold. SARS has a mortality rate of 1% to 2% while MERS, which evolved from SARS, has a mortality rate as high as 40%. While a common cold could be equated to a lazy housecat, COVID is closer to a male lion and MERS would be akin to a pack of starving lions. Cats and lions are felines – a scratch from a cat hurts while a scratch from a lion can kill. COVID lies between SARS and MERS.

The ability to spread easily isn’t the only evolution in BA.5 that has the medical community so worried, pre-print studies show it can evade all forms of previous immunity. Many people who had never caught COVID fell ill in May and early June, with a spike in BA.2.12.1 cases. Before BA.5 became the new dominant strain, a recent infection offered on average five months of enhanced immunity, but BA.5 is infecting people who had COVID just weeks earlier. Although other strains could evade front-line defenses, memory T cells weren’t fooled. Many who had previous infections or are vaccinated had mild symptoms that didn’t require seeing a doctor or hospitalizations. Data indicates that isn’t the case for BA.5, which can slip past the secondary immune response.

In Washington, new case rates are similar to the end of December, when the Omicron surge brought regional hospitals to their knees a few weeks later. Experts believe the case rate is much higher due to widely available home tests which go unreported, the end of COVID testing for international travel, and most employers dropping frequent COVID testing requirements. Fewer mild and asymptomatic cases are being captured. In San Francisco, wastewater data shows that COVID-19 has quietly spread at a faster rate than earlier spikes.

According to the Washington State Department of Health, area hospitals are already strained, in a situation eerily similar to December 2021. Statewide only 8% of acute care beds and 10% of ICU beds are available. Twelve percent of acute care patients have COVID, while ICU occupancy remains at a manageable 7%. A common question is if someone is hospitalized “with” COVID or “due” to COVID, but the point doesn’t matter. A patient that has COVID has to be treated differently and requires more attention, which saps already thin medical resources.

So far, the number of patients on ventilators remains far lower than in previous waves. While immunity to prevent symptomatic infection has declined significantly, protection from severe COVID symptoms appears to be holding.

As with previous waves, people 18 to 34 have the highest case rate while those 65 and older have the highest hospitalization rate. Officially, only three counties in Washington don’t have a “high transmission rate” for COVID.

Health and Lifestyle, Local

Omicron COVID Variant Keeps Evolving, Transmission Rates Increasing in Washington

[OLYMPIA, Wash.] – (MTN) Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) updated criteria for measuring the impact of COVID in a region, 15 Washington counties currently have high community levels of COVID-19. In March, the CDC changed the criteria for defining low, medium, and high to a formula that evaluates new cases, new hospital admissions, and the percent of in-patient staffed beds treating COVID-infected patients.

The University of Washington Virology Lab reported on Monday that test positivity was 15.4% from an Independence Day holiday reduced sample set. The rapidly evolving Omicron variant of COVID has eliminated the tidal waves of new cases that came in spikes every four to six months to a steady but controllable flood.

On November 28, 2021, the first Omicron cases were detected in Washington. A series of superspreader events over the weekend of December 4 in southwestern Washington spread new Omicron cases to 14 counties in less than ten days. By mid-January, Washington hospitals were on the precipice of moving to crisis standards of care.

The Omicron BA.2 variant was detected at the end of January and less than two months later had replaced the original Omicron strain accounting for 84% of new cases. However, on June 12, BA.2 was down to 17% of new cases. The BA.2 variant was replaced with the highly transmissible vaccine and prior immunity resistant BA.2.12 strain, which is already being replaced by BA.5.

Omicron BA.5 is a very vaccine and prior infection immunity resistant variant with similar genetic mutations to the Delta strain. The original vaccines remain effective at preventing hospitalization and severe illness but are offering diminished protection from catching COVID. Prior COVID infections, even from Omicron strains, provide little immunity to the new strains, especially BA.5.

Although the number of people infected by COVID is increasing, the number of deaths remains low due to many people’s broad baseline immunity. Researchers are still trying to understand the impact of long-COVID, defined as experiencing COVID systems or COVID-related complications more than 21 days after infection. It is estimated that 20% to 33% of people infected by coronavirus experience long-COVID. Symptoms can range from “COVID toe,” the loss of taste and smell, to debilitating migraines, joint pain, and fatigue.

Fifteen counties in Washington are feeling the sting from high community transmission of coronavirus, new hospital admissions, and the percentage of hospitalized patients with COVID. Asotin, Chelan, Clallam, Columbia, Douglas, Ferry, Grant, Grays Harbor, Lewis, Lincoln, Pacific, Pierce, Spokane, Thurston, and Walla Walla Counties have been advised to take increased protective measures, including wearing masks indoors.

King County didn’t make the list, but 4,900 people are being tested for COVID daily, and 20.2% of those tests return positive. The figure is artificially high compared to last year when home testing wasn’t widely available, and international travel required a negative PCR test. Additionally, many employers require repeated negative PCR tests in some job fields. Today, most PCR tests are only given to people suspected of having symptomatic COVID and to frontline healthcare workers with recent close exposure.

More troublesome is daily new hospital admissions for COVID cases have climbed to 25 a day in King County, a 54% increase from last week. Hospitalizations are a lagging indicator, spiking two to four weeks after a new case surge.

Many area hospitals are once again at or over capacity. A combination of acute staffing shortages, a return to everyday life, increasing accidents and work-related injuries, and hundreds of patients who can’t be released from the hospital because there aren’t enough transitional and long-term care facilities, has created a perfect storm. The bump in new COVID cases is adding to the problem.

COVID transmission remains low in outdoor, open-air settings. A driver of the increasing number of new COVID cases and hospitalizations has been the region’s cool and wet non-existent spring, keeping people indoors and windows closed. Even with the first days of summer here, the high temperature in Seattle struggled to reach 58 degrees on July 3rd.

While BA.5 is on track to become the next dominant strain in Washington, a new strain is already taking over on the other side of the planet. Omicron BA 2.75 was sequenced in India and is rapidly spreading across the region.

Health and Lifestyle, Local

Yellow Alert! COVID makes a comeback in Washington state

[SEATTLE, Wash.] – (MTN) COVID cases have steadily increased in King County, moving the region to the CDC’s medium threat level as test positivity, new cases, and hospitalizations rising again.

COVID variant Omicron has split off into a number of variants, with the current surge being driven by BA.2. According to the University of Washington Virology Lab, 85% of new cases are BA.2, so-called “stealth Omicron” and the statewide case positivity rate is 12.4%. In King County, test positivity has grown from 3.2% on March 16 to 11.6% on April 17. Hospitalizations have increased over 100% in the last week, growing from an average of 32 people countywide a week ago to 70. Area hospitals are not strained by the current round of infections, and regional numbers aren’t near the levels seen from the Delta surge in the fall of 2021, and the Omicron surge in January 2022.

The increase started four days after the Washington State Department of Health lifted the mask mandate on March 12 and companies such as Microsoft announced a return to the office.

A combination of relaxed public safety measures and waning vaccine and disease acquired immunity are contributing to the new increase. The Omicron BA.2 variant has a much higher reinfection rate than other variants, estimated at 10% to 15%, and is more contagious than the original Omicron strain.

CDC guidelines recommend that a region at COVID-19 Community Level Medium (yellow) recommends that those at high risk for severe COVID to discuss with their primary healthcare provider whether they should wear a mask. Additionally, anyone who is exhibiting COVID systems should get a PCR test.

Common symptoms of Omicron BA.2 are somewhat different from the original, Alpha and Delta variants. Additional symptoms to look for include:

  • Runny nose
  • Sore throat – moderate to severe
  • Diarrhea, gastric upset, particularly in children
  • Fatigue that is profound and severe, particularly in children

This is in addition to more typical COVID symptoms that include fever and chills, muscle and body aches, dry cough, shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, headache, and a sudden loss of taste and/or smell.

Health and Lifestyle, Local

Proof of vaccination ends in Washington state, masks off date changed to March 12

[OLYMPIA, Wash.] – (MTN) Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced that the indoor mask mandate will end for most locations, including schools, on March 12. The change was made after the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) updated national guidelines on Feb. 25, and the rapidly declining new case and hospitalization numbers in Washington state.

King County Executive Dow Constantine announced that the county would follow the state, and end its indoor mask mandate on Mar. 12.

The CDC also updated guidance removing mask requirements in schools and on buses and vans in counties with low and moderate transmission for COVID. At the time of the updated guidelines, over 70% of United States counties qualified. Masks will still be required in certain locations in compliance with CDC guidelines.

  • Public transporation such as buses, subways, trains, airplanes, ferries, and related transit terminals
  • Hospitals, nursing homes, dentists offices, and other medical facilities
  • Workers and residents of community living facilities such as jails, prisons, halfway houses, and homeless shelters

The requirement to show proof of vaccination at large events and indoor venues such as restaurants, bars, theaters, and gyms, is set to expire tonight. The ending of so-called vaccine passports comes two years to the day after the first Washington state COVID death was announced.

Over the last two years, 11,866 Washingtonians have lost their lives due to COVID. Nationally, 950,000 have died, equal to the entire population of Fort Worth, Texas, or almost equal to the population of Delaware.

The first official COVID death of a United States resident from community transmission happened on Feb. 26, 2020, during the nation’s first super spreader event, at Lifecare Center in Kirkland. The death was reported on Feb. 29 and EvergreenHealth Kirkland was overwhelmed with patients two weeks later.

New cases remain high from a historical standpoint according to the Washington State Department of Health (WSDoH). On Monday, WSDoH reported 241 new cases per 100,000 residents, down 85% of the Omicron peak in mid-January. Almost 81% of residents five and older have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine, and 73.2% are fully vaccinated.

Breaking News, Health and Lifestyle, Local

Washington state mask mandate ending on March 21

[OLYMPIA, Wash.] – (MTN) Governor Jay Inslee announced the statewide mask mandate in public schools, and most indoor venues will end on Mar. 21. The announcement came a day after King County officials announced the requirement to show proof of vaccination at restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues will end on Mar. 1.

Gov. Inslee showed a forecast that indicates that on Mar. 21, new COVID-related hospital admissions would drop to a level that is sustainable for medical facilities.

Additionally, the state requirement to show proof of vaccination at large events will end on Mar. 1.

Counties, municipalities, and businesses reserve the right to require mask wear or show proof of vaccination after the mandates expire next month.

COVID-related hospitalizations are down 35% from the record-setting January peak. During the week of Jan. 16, hospitals teetered on the edge of moving to crisis standards of care. the pause on non-urgent surgical procedures announced in January, expired today.

Breaking News, Health and Lifestyle, Local

As COVID rages, what’s next for Washington state

[KIRKLAND, Wash.] – (MTN) Washington state has set new records for COVID cases and hospitalizations, straining every aspect of life and leaving many to wonder, what is next?

Malcontent News has been tracking the Omicron wave in South Africa and the United Kingdom and using the data from these nations to build models for Washington. The path the current surge is taking aligns closely with the progression in South Africa.

New Cases

It took 28 days for the first SGTFs to show up in PCR tests in South Africa at a significant number, to the peak in cases. If Washington follows the same path, new cases in the state should peak on Jan. 17. The last update from the Washington State Department of Health (WSDOH) was supportive of an approaching statewide peak. An analysis of new case data indicated that the Olympic Peninsula, Central Puget Sound, the South Sound counties out to the Pacific Coast have already peaked. In Eastern Washington, many areas are still seven to ten days away.

In South Africa and Europe, cases declined rapidly. If Washington follows the same pattern, new daily cases will be 50 percent of peak by Feb. 2, and then drift to a plateau of 30 to 35 percent of the peak. The plateau will hold until Feb. 14, before starting to decline again.

Washington moved to test only symptomatic and close contacts on Jan. 4. Over the weekend Seattle Children’s Hospital reported they were incapable of testing most pediatric cases for COVID at urgent care clinics, reserving the dwindling supply to only the sickest of patients. The University Washington Medicine is struggling to test staff and immediate family, in compliance with the United States Centers for Disease Control CDC) guidelines.

Clark County residents have appealed to the state for additional testing resources and more access to booster shots. Among the eight locations receiving National Guard support by Jan. 24 for additional testing resources, Vancouver, Washington was not among the locations.

The University of Washington Virology lab is struggling to provide test results to Washington, and some Oregon healthcare providers, processing 12,000 to 14,000 a test a day. On Sunday, 31.9 percent were positive, creating some doubt that a peak in cases has arrived.

Hospitalizations

Hospitalizations are a trailing indicator. We predicted on Dec. 26. that Washington hospitals would run out of available resources by Jan 15. Governor Jay Inslee deployed the national guard and suspended all non-emergency surgeries on Jan. 13, to support overwhelmed hospitals.

In South Africa, seven percent of new Omicron cases resulted in hospitalizations. The unvaccinated made up 82 percent of all COVID hospitalizations. That rate was between 22 and 31 percent of the earlier Delta wave. The exact difference is hard to track after South Africa changed its testing criteria on Dec. 24, testing only people who were symptomatic or had close contacts. Adjusting for South Africa’s higher hospitalization rate versus the United States, and accounting for the lower hospitalization rate among Omicron patients, we initially estimated Washington would experience a 1.14 to 1.34 percent hospitalization rate. Currently, it is between 1.8 and 2.4 percent depending on the hospital region.

The single biggest factor that impacts the outcome of a COVID infection is age. In South Africa, only 5.7 percent of the population is over 60, while 34.1% is under 19. Although it is true that only 26% of the population is fully vaccinated, in Gauteng Province, which bore the brunt of the Omicron wave, 44 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.

In Washington, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Skamania, Asotin, Ferry, Whitman, Klickitat, and Columbia Counties have lower vaccination rates. According to the WSDOH on Thursday, 80 percent of all COVID hospitalizations statewide were unvaccinated – which mirrors the data released from South Africa on Sunday.

In South Africa, the surge of new hospitalizations peaked 10 to 14 days after the new cases reached a peak. If Washington follows that path, new hospitalizations will peak at the end of January.

Despite reports that many cases resulted in short hospitalizations, this was among vaccinated individuals. South Africa found that among unvaccinated individuals, the progress of illness was no different than prior strains of COVID.

The number of hospitalized COVID patients peaked in South Africa on Dec. 31 and remained almost unchanged through Jan. 6. Currently hospitalized coronavirus patients in the African nation are still at 83 percent of peak. The decline has been slow.

For Washington hospitals, this will be an insurmountable challenge. Although the governor announced a pause in elective surgeries statewide on Thursday, many hospitals had already voluntarily taken that step to expand resources. MultiCare reported ten days ago they were forced to implement CDC crisis staffing standards, having COVID positive workers who are experiencing mild to moderate symptoms continue to work.

An analysis of available hospital resources indicated that additional emergency staffing and converting PACUs to COVID wards added 60 to 75 acute care and 10 to 15 ICU beds statewide. With over 250 new COVID patient admissions a day, that added capacity was likely wiped out over the weekend.

If Washington follows the same hospitalization trend, by Jan. 26 the worst of the surge will be hitting our facilities. The number of COVID patients will peak on Feb. 4, and hold until Feb. 10. Although a decline will be accelerating by Feb. 20, a load of 83% of the peak would be unsustainable.

On Friday the WSDOH reported there were 2,135 COVID patients in Washington hospitals, an all-time record. Hospitalizations are increasing 50 percent every week. The IHME model projects almost 4,000 hospitalized coronavirus patients on Feb. 4, either in acute care or the ICU. If Washington follows South Africa, the number would reach 5,038 and then sustain at that level for two weeks before dropping to 4,000.

Last Monday patients were being transferred out of King County to Moses Lake, Richland, and Missoula, Montana. King County hospitals, University of Washington Medicine, and Harborview Medical Center are caring for a record number of COVID patients. In Spokane, Providence and MultiCare hospitals can’t take transfers. Doctors reported angry and desperate phone calls from rural hospitals trying to move patients to larger facilities.

MultiCare and Providence hospitals on both sides of the mountains have deployed tents again. In Everett, Providence Hospital was treating patients in the emergency department waiting room and the halls are lined with patients waiting for beds.

Deaths

Looking to South Africa, the number of deaths from Omicron was significantly lower compared to Delta. The age of the population, a 66% vaccination rate for those over 50, a historically lower COVID death rate compared to Europe and North America, and more available resources contributed to the better outcomes. Additionally, it is summer in South Africa.

COVID-related deaths started to increase on Dec. 11. It is unknown if deaths have reached a peak yet, but on Jan. 16, the 7-day moving average was 105 deaths a day. All signs in South Africa indicate the Omicron surge is reaching its finality.

In Washington, the population is older and in poorer health. Vaccination rates are higher, but almost one-third of the entire population is not only unvaccinated but politically indoctrinated into the status being part of their identity. They not only dismiss vaccination but all proven public health measures such as indoor mask wear.

Unlike prior waves in Washington, Omicron overwhelmed the larger and better equipped Puget Sound region facilities first. Idaho is starting to surge with new cases and Oregon is straining under its own tidal wave of cases. COVID patients in Eastern Washington will have fewer options than ever before.

If Washington follows the same as South Africa, COVID-related deaths will start to peak in mid-February.

Services and Infrastructure

It is estimated eight to ten percent of all American workers are sick, caring for a sick family member, or quarantining. The United States was already dealing with a worker shortage in 2021, which has been made worse by Omicron. By early February, up to 25 percent of all Washington workers could be sidelined with COVID.

Some of the impacts have already rippled through the region. Empty store shelves, recently restocked after the mountain passes reopened, will struggle to stay full. Pharmacists are warning people to refill their medications now, unsure of their ability to serve the community and have an adequate supply of pills.

Postal workers are driving routes for 12 to 16 hours to fulfill deliveries, and school districts are looking for parent volunteers or moving to virtual learning. In some cities such as Seattle, students have staged walkouts due to high infection rates. In Lakewood, the Walmart Super Center was forced to close for three days for a deep cleaning after 63 workers became sick with COVID.

The day-to-day impact for everyone will include school and daycare closures, spotty store shelves, delayed deliveries, and businesses forced into short-term closures due to a lack of staff. The economic fallout could last for much longer.

Without a dramatic increase in support, state healthcare workers and Washington residents will face a brutal five to six weeks where only the absolute sickest individuals will be able to get medical services, and basic goods and services will require patience to find.

Breaking News, Health and Lifestyle, Local

Gov Inslee suspends surgeries and deploying national guard to support COVID overwhelmed hospitals

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[OLYMPIA, Wash.] – (MTN) Washington Gov Jay Inslee and Washington State Secretary of Health Dr Umair Shah announced that all Washington hospitals will suspend non-urgent procedures and 100 national guard members are being deployed to support COVID overwhelmed hospitals.

Earlier on Thursday Washington State Hospital Association Executive Vice President Taya Briley, RN said, “This is the worst situation hospitals in Washington state have been in compared to any prior point during the pandemic,” adding, “We are experiencing a crisis across our medical system.”

As part of Gov Inslee’s announcement 100 National Guard troops are being activated to provide additional testing resources at four hospitals. Additionally, they are adding funding for 200 more traveling healthcare workers, expanding the contract to 1,200 specialists. Gov Inslee told reporters that 875 traveling medical workers were already deployed. The Adjutant General of the Washington State National Guard Major General Bret Daugherty added that 17 national guard members were already deployed and the rest would be in place by Jan. 24.

Last week the Washington State Medical Association appealed for National Guard support and aid in discharging hundreds of hospitalized patients that have no placement in long-term care facilities. To provide assistance, the state will be providing funds to add another 200 staff in long-term care facilities, which would help place up to 240 patients out of hospitals. Another 75 people still hospitalized are also awaiting guardianship, and the state will move to streamline that process. No timeline was given on how fast that would happen.

The impact of these changes is questionable. Currently, over 250 people a day are being admitted to Washington hospitals due to COVID. That number is forecasted to double over the next three weeks according to the IHME.

The Delta Wave over the summer never reached a true conclusion. In early December there were still 610 COVID patients in Washington hospitals. Hospital occupancy rates were also high because elective surgeries, cancer treatments, and other critical care had been postponed for almost two years. Additionally, pediatric hospitals were close to full due to RSV, a common childhood viral infection.

The first Omicron case was detected in Washington on Nov. 29. Over the weekend of Dec. 4, several high school wrestling matches turned into super spreader events with cases across the entire I-5 corridor and across the Cascades to Yakima. Unlike previous waves, Western Washington hospitals filled up first. During the previous weekend and on Monday, some patients were transferred by air ambulance out of Puget Sound to Moses Lake, Richland, and Missoula, Montana.

Breaking News, Health and Lifestyle, Local, National

Private COVID testing provider with 11 locations in Washington accused of fraud

Update January 12, 2022 10:45 AM: King County Public Health has responded to our inquiry.

[SOUTH BARRINGTON, Ill] – (MTN) More than 300 pop-up COVID test sites operated by the Center for COVID Control are under legal scrutiny after thousands of consumer complaints about the test centers being a scam.

This evening, officials in Massachusetts, Oregon, and Texas have opened up criminal investigations. USA Today reported last week that complaints about the company were piling up. People who were tested reported it took days to receive results if they received them at all. Consumers complained they received negative test results in Florida while still waiting in line to be swabbed.

The test sites require people to provide their driver’s license and insurance information. In Florida, WINK Channel 11 in Fort Myers reported their investigators had their driver’s licenses photographed and their insurance cards.

Attempts to call the customer service line resulted in longer wait times, with people unable to contact the company.

The company operates 11 test sites in Washington, including in regions where federal, state, and county resources are hard to find. Locations in Bellevue, Seattle, Lynnwood, and Yakima have had long lines.

Center for COVID Control test locations in Washington

  • 1525 A St NE Suite 107, Auburn
  • 1504 145th Pl SE, Bellevue
  • 2606 Wetmore Ave, Everett
  • 7801 Bridgeport Way W, Lakewood
  • 17425 Hwy 99 Suite F, Lynnwood
  • 1700 SE Mile Hill Dr, Port Orchard
  • 500 Aloha St, Seattle
  • 417 7th Ave S, Seattle
  • 5955 6th Ave, Tacoma
  • 6720 Regents Blvd Suite 112, University Place
  • 1731 S 1st Street Suite 220, Yakima

Washingtonians seeking a legitimate testing site can visit the Washington State Department of Health.

Residents of Portland, Oregon, and Seattle raised concerns about the company as far back as October. A pop-up site emerged on Capitol Hill. Untrained staffers at outside tents told people to swab the nose themselves and handled samples without PPE. There were numerous complaints about improper test procedures, requiring their driver’s license, and never receiving test results. Some filed complaints with the Washington State Attorney General and claimed there wasn’t any follow-up.

The Instagram for the company has a handful of images with multiple complaints of never receiving test results and calling the operation a scam.

The Center for COVID Control is an offshoot of BullsEye Axe Lounge in South Barrington, Illinois. Opened in 2019 by Aleya Siyaj and her spouse Akbar Syed, the lounge and bar is a popular location for drinks and ax throwing. When the COVID wave struck in late 2020, the business was forced to close due to public health measures. In November 2020, a donut shop Siyaj opened in 2017 was forced into default. Three weeks later, Siyaj pivoted to offering COVID tests.

What started as BullsEye Free Drive-Thru Testing became the Center for COVID Control, LLC on Dec. 2, 2020, when the company was incorporated in Illinois. A year later, a second LLC was created in Florida on Oct. 25. After filing in Florida, that number of sites across the nation exploded to over 300. Neither registered agent responded to our inquiries about the company.

Syed’s video posted on YouTube showed an insider view of the operation behind the Center for COVID Control. The video was deleted by Syed after a story on Medium broke about the company but was reposted. The video, filmed at night at a suburban one-story office park, has a Boiler Room vibe. Luxury cars line the parking lot, while the inside offices appear little more than an empty shell. At the end of the video, an employee brags about making $1.45 million a year in salary to Syed.

On Reddit, former employees allege that the Center for COVID Control is collecting driver license information so they can send repeated reimbursement requests to the federal government for tests that never happened.

For communities such as Yakima and Lakewood, the loss of public trust in the testing centers is devastating. In Yakima, people have waited for hours and sometimes turned away when they run out of tests.

On Wednesday morning, King County Public Health told Malcontent News they are looking into the reports about the company.