Category: Covid-19

With worldwide numbers of COVID-19 cases in decline since April, there has been more focus on life after the pandemic. Many researchers are interested in figuring out the long-term effects of a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

A new study, which appears in BMJ, examined the elevated risk of developing a new health condition following a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that COVID-19 cases constituted a pandemic more than 1 year ago, just over 164 million people have contracted the underlying virus, and 3.4 million people have died as a result.

Many with the infection are asymptomatic, but others have symptoms that can range from mild to severe. The virus has overwhelmed the healthcare systems of some countries, with hospital intensive care units filled beyond capacity due to the number of severely ill COVID-19 patients.

The symptoms of COVID-19 may clear up within a matter of weeks, but they can last much longer. Doctors sometimes refer to this issue as long COVID and the people who experience it as long haulers.

The new retrospective study examined people who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between January 1 and October 31, 2020. From 266,586 people with SARS-CoV-2 infections, the researchers examined the records of 193,113 participants who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and followed for at least 21 days.

The participants were aged 1865, and according to the paper, each was part of a large United States health plan. To track the participants, the researchers took information from a national claims database, a laboratory testing database, and an inpatient hospital admissions database.

The researchers checked the participants records to see how many had been diagnosed with a new medical condition within 6 months of the post-acute phase, which they defined as a period beginning 3 weeks after the initial COVID-19 diagnosis.

After compiling this data, the study authors compared it with data from other groups who had been admitted to the hospital, including a group with a continuous healthcare plan in 2020 who did not have diagnosed COVID-19.

The researchers found that 14% of participants with COVID-19 had developed at least one new medical condition that required treatment following the acute phase of their SARS-CoV-2 infection.

A new health condition that occurs as a consequence of a previous illness is called a sequela. The authors write:

An increased risk of specific clinical sequelae after the acute infection was noted across a range of organ systems, including cardiovascular, neurologic, kidney, respiratory, and mental health complications.

The risk of developing a new condition was 5% higher among this group, compared with the control group who did not have diagnosed COVID-19.

The increased likelihood of experiencing a new medical condition following a SARS-CoV-2 infection was not limited to older people or people with preexisting conditions. Many younger people, including those with no previous history of health issues, developed a new condition after having COVID-19.

Healthcare professionals should be alert to the possibility of long COVID in anyone with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. How to treat these longer-term consequences is now an urgent research priority, Dr. Elaine Maxwell, a scientific advisor at the National Institute for Health Research, in London, wrote in an associated editorial.

The results of this study emphasize the importance of reducing the spread of COVID-19. While the most obvious result of doing so is a reduction in deaths and hospital admittances, it is also important to consider the longer-term effects on healthcare systems throughout the world.

The greater risk for incident sequelae after the acute phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection is relevant for healthcare planning, the study authors highlight.

In an interview with Medical News Today, Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville, TN, shared his thoughts on the new study.

This is a solid study that provides an estimate of how frequently such new symptoms occur: 14%, Dr. Schaffner said. This is a very high proportion of patients. There was a wide spectrum of symptoms involving numerous organ systems. The impact on the healthcare system of these many patients requiring medical care over a long period of time will be substantial.

The researchers acknowledge that their study had some flaws. They were not able to include the risk of death, for example, due to the limitations of their databases.

Also, they note that they may have misclassified some participants. For example, while participants in the control group had no diagnosis of COVID-19, the illness may have been undiagnosed in some people, which has the potential to skew the data.

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COVID-19 may increase the risk of other health conditions - Medical News Today

More than 60 researchers from colleges across Texas A&M University will spend the next two days discussing how the COVID-19 pandemic affected education and learning. Theyll also identify potential solutions to prepare for future crises.

The two-day workshop is part of the universitys Livable Texas initiative, which brings researchers together to identify critical issues facing Texas. Jeffrey Liew, professor of educational psychology and associate dean for research at the College of Education & Human Development, said Livable Texas aims to leverage the insights and expertise of faculty and staff to ultimately improve the lives and outcomes of Texans. Livable Texas is spearheaded by Jack Baldauf, senior associate vice president for research.

Liew, who is leading the Wednesday and Thursday workshops alongside Frank Ashley, senior associate dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service, said workshop participants will discuss the long-term consequences of learning loss on the future of work, workforce development and workplace provisions in Texas and the U.S.

The pandemic has disrupted and altered many aspects of our daily lives, he said. For children and youth who are in K-12 education, many parents, education leaders and policymakers have raised concerns about the learning loss associated with COVID-19.

This is commonly referred to as the COVID slide in academic performance, according to Liew, adding that students from rural and high-poverty areas and those in special education are more vulnerable to learning loss associated with the pandemic.

The workshop will also cover topics that go beyond academics. There is significant social emotional learning loss associated with the pandemic, Liew said, because many students experienced trauma and also lacked the social experiences and peer interactions critical for their learning and healthy development.

While these are some of the immediate impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic on students academic and social-emotional learning loss, these impacts could have long-term or downstream consequences on the labor markets if these educational issues are not addressed or remedied, Liew said. That is why this workshop is so critical, and I think that is why we are seeing so many of our researchers at Texas A&M responding to the call to bring their expertise and talents to address these issues through the workshop.

Other discussion topics will include leveraging technologies, intelligent tutoring and A.I. to recover from learning loss; infrastructure and accessibility to technologies and internet; and equitable allocation of educational resources and interventions.

We see the workshop as a way to stimulate and seed ideas among researchers with complementary interests and expertise, Liew said. After the workshop, we plan to find ways to support and sustain teams of researchers who will continue to grow ideas and plans into interdisciplinary and collaborative projects that will have impact by improving the lives of people in Texas and beyond.

Colleges and schools represented by participants who have registered for the workshop include the colleges of Education & Human Development, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Architecture, Geosciences, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences; the School of Law; the Bush School of Government and Public Service; Texas A&M at Galveston and Texas A&M at Corpus Christi.

I think this speaks to how important these issues are for all of us, and our researchers at Texas A&M are really invested and committed to using their expertise and talents to help find solutions for addressing the impacts from the pandemic and to find ways to be proactive and be prepared, and better yet, to prevent future crises and hazards from happening, Liew said.

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Upcoming Workshops To Focus On COVID-19's Impact On Education - Texas A&M University Today

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Alaska between Saturday and Monday reported 99 new coronavirus infections and no deaths linked to COVID-19, according to the Department of Health and Social Services. The state no longer updates its coronavirus dashboard over the weekend and instead includes those numbers in Mondays report.

Alaskas average daily case counts are now trending down significantly statewide. The state last week went from a high alert level to an intermediate alert level for the first time since September, indicating less spread and fewer cases overall, though some regions remain at a high alert level due to higher case rates.

Anyone 12 and older who lives or works in Alaska can now receive a COVID-19 vaccination. Alaskans can visit covidvax.alaska.gov or call 907-646-3322 to sign up for a vaccine appointment, and new appointments are added regularly. The phone line is staffed from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekends.

Only Pfizers vaccine is approved for children as young as 12; the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are approved only for those 18 and older.

By Monday, about 318,530 people had received at least their first dose of vaccine. At least 278,856 people are considered fully vaccinated, according to the states vaccine monitoring dashboard.

Also by Monday, there were 20 people with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 in hospitals throughout the state, far below a peak in late 2020.

A geographic breakdown of the cases reported Saturday through Monday was not immediately available.

While people might get tested more than once, each case reported by the state health department represents only one person.

The states data doesnt specify whether people testing positive for COVID-19 have symptoms. More than half of the nations infections are transmitted from asymptomatic people, according to CDC estimates.

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Tracking COVID-19 in Alaska: 99 cases and no deaths reported over the weekend - Anchorage Daily News

Boston The Baker-Polito Administration announced today that the federal partnership launched this March to expand COVID-19 vaccine doses in the Boston area has successfully concluded after administering over 301,000 doses. The Federal Emergency and Management Agency (FEMA) and Department of Defense teams at this Community Vaccination Center (CVC) wrapped up their mission on Sunday, May 23. As part of this effort, the Commonwealth received over 6,000 additional doses from the federal government each day to administer at the Hynes Convention Center vaccination site and through mobile clinics.

While federal support from FEMA and the Department of Defense has ended, the state-run Hynes vaccination site will continue to operate into June under the continued management of CIC Health. Anyone who has received a first vaccine dose will be able to receive their second dose at the Hynes before the site closes.

"Massachusetts is a national leader in providing COVID-19 vaccines to our residents, and we are grateful for the support of the federal government in this partnership which helped contribute to those efforts, said Governor Charlie Baker. On behalf of the Commonwealth, I want to thank the Biden-Harris Administration, FEMA, the U.S. Navy, CIC Health, and the team at the Command Center and MEMA for working collaboratively to make this effort a success.

Region 1 Acting Regional Administrator and Federal Coordination Officer for New England Paul Ford said, The collaboration between the Commonwealth, its partners and the federal government provided access to the vaccine for all residents of Massachusetts. The staffing of the Community Vaccination Center at the Hynes with DOD and FEMA staff allowed the Commonwealth flexibility to bring the vaccine to some of the hardest hit communities. On behalf of FEMA and our federal partners, we are pleased to have had a role in the success of administering the vaccine. I want to thank the Naval Unit for all the wonderful work they did here.

Since opening on March 31, more than 301,000 doses have been administered at the Hynes with support from 225 Department of Defense U.S. Navy personnel, Cataldo Ambulance, and CIC-Health staff. In addition to bolstering existing efforts at the convention center, this federal support allowed the state to strengthen and expand vaccine equity efforts.

The Hynes site deployed staff for mobile clinics and pop-up vaccination sites to several communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic including Boston, Chelsea, Revere, Fall River, and New Bedford. These efforts were in addition to the Baker-Polito Administrations work to expand outreach and other mobile vaccination efforts in disproportionately impacted communities and communities with lower than state average vaccination rates.

Massachusetts is a national leader in COVID-19 vaccination rates, with more than 77% of adults having received at least one dose. COVID-19 vaccines are widely available in Massachusetts, with over 900 locations across every region of the state listed on vaxfinder.mass.gov.

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Federal Government Completes COVID-19 Vaccination Mission at the Hynes Convention Center; Site to Remain Open Into June - Mass.gov

A booster Covid-19 vaccine for people who have already been vaccinated may be needed as soon as eight to 12 months after their second shot, according to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"We know that the vaccine durability of the efficacy lasts at least six months, and likely considerably more, but I think we will almost certainly require a booster sometime within a year or so after getting the primary," Fauci said.

As of Wednesday, there were more than 33 million cases of Covid-19 in the United States and more than 587,000 deaths.

Fauci also said Wednesday that variant-specific boosters may not be needed.

"Instead of having to play whack-a-mole with each individual variant and develop a booster that's variant-specific, it is likely that you could just keep boosting against the wild type, and wind up getting a good enough response that you wouldn't have to worry about the variants," he said.

The wild type is the non-mutated strain of the virus.

Pfizer has not yet finished its trials on a booster vaccine, Bourla said.

"I believe in one, two months we will have enough data to speak about it with much higher scientific certainty," he said.

The first dose of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine in the United States was administered December 14, 2020 -- five months ago.

"If they got their second shot eight months ago, they may need a third one," Bourla said, adding that booster shots could be coming between September and October of this year.

He said Pfizer will have to see what the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves and their recommendation on how best to protect the American people.

As vaccinations continue to increase, medical experts believe coronavirus may end up being like influenza, which requires a new vaccine every year both because the circulating strains mutate quickly and because immunity from the vaccine wears off quickly.

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Covid-19 booster shot will likely be needed within a year of vaccination, Fauci says - CNN

Posted: May 25, 2021 / 10:04 PM EDT / Updated: May 25, 2021 / 10:07 PM EDT

Hampton University mobile vaccine clinic (Photo courtesy: Hampton University)

HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) Hampton University is holding three COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine and testing clinics through its new Hampton University Mobile Health Unit this week in Norfolk.

The clinics are for ages 12 and up. They run from 4-7 p.m. from Tuesday through Thursday and are at different locations.

Tuesdays event was at Calvert Square Envision Center Basketball Courts in Norfolk.

Wednesdays clinic will be held at Oakleaf Forest Basketball Courts in Norfolk.

Thursdays will be Young Terrace Foodbank Hub in Norfolk.

Fresh produce will be distributed by the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia at those locations. There will be games, resources and raffle prizes. The first 100 people to get vaccinated on each day will receive a $10 gift card.

People need to bring an ID to the event, wear their masks and ensure theyre social distancing.

Second doses will be gievn June 15-17.

Registration is encouraged, although not necessary. Vaccines are limited for those who dont register ahead of time.

To register for the event, open the flyer below and scan one of the QR codes using the camera on a cell phone.

For more information, call 757-314-1533.

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Hampton University holding mobile COVID-19 vaccine, testing clinics this week - WAVY.com

A person holds a mask while walking outside in Philadelphia on Friday. New coronavirus cases have dropped, but health experts caution that not enough Americans have been vaccinated to completely extinguish the virus. Matt Rourke/AP hide caption

A person holds a mask while walking outside in Philadelphia on Friday. New coronavirus cases have dropped, but health experts caution that not enough Americans have been vaccinated to completely extinguish the virus.

New coronavirus cases across the United States have tumbled to rates not seen in more than 11 months, sparking optimism that vaccination campaigns are stemming both severe COVID-19 cases and the spread of the virus.

As cases, hospitalizations and deaths steadily dropped this week, pre-pandemic life in America has largely resumed. Hugs and unmasked crowds returned to the White House, a Mardi Gras-style parade marched through Alabama's port city of Mobile, and even states that have stuck to pandemic-related restrictions readied to drop them. However, health experts also cautioned that not enough Americans have been vaccinated to completely extinguish the virus, leaving the potential for new variants that could extend the pandemic.

As the seven-day average for new cases dropped below 30,000 per day this week, Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pointed out cases have not been this low since June 18, 2020. The average number of deaths over the last seven days also dropped to 552 a rate not seen since July last year. It's a dramatic drop since the pandemic hit a devastating crescendo in January.

"As each week passes and as we continue to see progress, these data give me hope," Walensky said Friday at a news conference.

Health experts credit an efficient rollout of vaccines for the turnaround. More than 60% of people over 18 have received at least one shot, and almost half are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. But demand for vaccines has dropped across much of the country. President Joe Biden's administration is trying to convince other Americans to sign up for shots, using an upbeat message that vaccines offer a return to normal life.

White House health officials on Friday even waded into offering dating advice. They are teaming up with dating apps to offer a new reason to "swipe right" by featuring vaccination badges on profiles and in-app bonuses for people who have gotten their shots.

Ohio, New York, Oregon and other states are enticing people to get vaccinated through lottery prizes of up to $5 million.

Across the country, venues and events reopened after shuttering for much of the last year.

On Saturday, Karen Stetz readied to welcome what she hoped would be a good crowd to the Grosse Pointe Art Fair on Michigan's Lake St. Clair.

With natural ventilation from the lake and mask and capacity restrictions easing, Stetz was optimistic that artists who make their living traveling a show circuit that ground to a halt last year would begin to bounce back. The event usually draws from 5,000 to 10,000 people.

"I feel like most people are ready to get out," Stetz said by phone shortly before opening the fair. "It seems like people are eager, but it's hard to know still. I'm sure there's a percentage of people that are going to wait until they're comfortable."

In Mobile, thousands of joyful revelers, many without masks, competed for plastic beads and trinkets tossed from floats Friday night as Alabama's port city threw a Mardi Gras-style parade. But only about a quarter of the county's population is fully vaccinated. Many went without masks, though health officials had urged personal responsibility.

Alabama's vaccination rate 34% of people have received at least one dose is one of the lowest in the country. It's part of a swath of Southern states where vaccine uptake has been slow. Health experts worry that areas with low vaccination rates could give rise to new virus variants that are more resistant to vaccinations.

"My biggest concern is new strains of the virus and the need to remain vigilant in the months ahead," said Boston College public health expert Dr. Philip J. Landrigan.

A medical center in Louisiana reported Friday it has identified the state's first two cases of a COVID-19 variant that has spread widely since being identified in India. The COVID-19 variant has been classified as a "variant of concern" by Britain and the World Health Organization, meaning there is some evidence that it spreads more easily between people, causes more severe disease, or might be less responsive to treatments and vaccines. The variant has also been reported in several other states, including Tennessee, Nebraska and Nevada.

Though Landrigan said the big drop in cases nationwide was "the best news we've had on the pandemic" and showed that vaccines are working, he warned that people should remain vigilant for local flare-ups of new cases.

Many states have largely dropped orders to wear masks and stay distanced from other people. Meanwhile, even places such as California the first state to issue a statewide shutdown as the virus emerged in March 2020 prepared to remove restrictions on social distancing and business capacity next month.

State health director Dr. Mark Ghaly said Friday the decision was based on dramatically lower virus cases and increased vaccinations.

But in Vermont the state with the highest percentage of people who have received one shot Gov. Phil Scott has tied the lifting of restrictions to the vaccination rate. He offered to lift all remaining restrictions before a July 4 deadline if 80% of those eligible get vaccinated.

Landrigan figured it will take a nationwide vaccination rate of at least 85% to snuff out the virus. But for now, the steep drop in cases gave him hope that pandemic-level infection rates will soon be a thing of the past.

"It is getting to the point to where by the Fourth of July we might be able to declare this thing over," he said.

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New US COVID-19 Cases Are The Lowest In 11 Months - NPR

(NEXSTAR) After more than a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, most people are eager for life to return to normal, as it was before the pandemic.

But that time may never come.

COVID-19 likely wont go away, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine.

Until vaccine equity is established, until people are not hesitant about the vaccine, this wont go away, he said.

Because COVID-19 was transmitted from animals to humans, and its unlikely that the world can vaccinate or euthanize all the animal carriers, the virus will continue to circulate, potentially indefinitely.

COVID-19 isnt like other infectious diseases, such as smallpox, which was effectively eliminated after global vaccine efforts.

Its going to stay around and have flares, Chin-Hong said.

Unless we vaccinate everyone at the same time, youll have flares, he said. And every time you have a flare, theres the possibility of creating variants.

Some parts of the U.S. are effectively open, with very low viral case rates, such as in California, where Chin-Hong lives. But the physician doesnt expect things to stay calm indefinitely.

He says the current low case rate in places like California is due to vaccination in combination with a huge spike in cases in the winter, during which people recovered and developed natural immunity, meaning immunity not from the vaccine, but from catching the virus.

Natural immunity likely fades faster than the protection from the vaccine within 6 to 12 months, physicians believe. Once it fades in a majority of the population, that paves the way for flares.

Vaccine hesitancy is hardly an American-only problem. A recent Gallup poll found that nearly 1.3 billion adults would not agree to be vaccinated. Only two in three adults worldwide said they would get the vaccine even if it was available to them at no cost which isnt enough for global herd immunity.

That said, Chin-Hong does believe life will return to almost normal eventually. He expects well feel relief regionally, and develop regional herd immunity.

There will probably be countries with much less disease than others, he said. But as long as were traveling back and forth, theres potential for it to randomly flare-up.

Chin-Hong says measles provides a good example. A lot of people are immunized against it but not everyone and that means there will still be outbreaks occasionally when someone travels from elsewhere and exposes a large group of people not vaccinated against the disease.

The key is to get as many humans vaccinated against COVID as possible, and quickly, before new variants develop.

Ultimately, thats the only avenue by which we can squash COVID to the bare minimum, Chin-Hong said.

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This wont go away: Why one doctor thinks COVID-19 will never disappear - ABC27

A staff member demonstrates the usage of Breathonix breathalyzer test kit developed by Breathonix, a start-up by the National University of Singapore, able to detect the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) within a minute according to the company, at their laboratory in Singapore October 29, 2020. REUTERS/Chen Lin/File Photo

Singapore authorities have provisionally approved a COVID-19 breathalyser test that aims to show whether someone is infected with the coronavirus in under a minute, according to the local startup that developed the product.

Breathonix, a spin-off company from the National University of Singapore (NUS), said it is now working with the health ministry to run a deployment trial of the technology at one of the city-state's border points with Malaysia.

The breath analysis will be carried out alongside the current compulsory COVID-19 antigen rapid test.

The breath test achieved more than 90% accuracy in a Singapore-based pilot clinical trial, the company said last year.

The Health Sciences Authority's website confirmed the approval, which the company said was the first such system to secure provisional authorisation in Singapore.

The system uses disposable mouthpieces and is designed to ensure there is no cross-contamination. After blowing into the device, the technology assesses the chemical compounds of the breath to determine whether or not a person is infected.

Any individual screened as positive will need to undergo a confirmatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) COVID-19 swab test, the company said.

Breathonix said it is in discussion with several local and overseas organisations to use the system, citing strong commercial interest. Other countries, including Indonesia and the Netherlands, have rolled out similar breath tests. read more

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Singapore provisionally approves 60-second COVID-19 breathalyser test - Reuters

OLYMPIA Coffee shops, construction companies, bars, casinos, long-term care facilities, a hospital.

Throughout the COVID-19 state of emergency, some businesses across Spokane struggled to follow guidelines.

Some chose to stay open despite regulations because they feared losing business. Others failed to offer proper social distancing for employees or signs to customers about wearing masks.

As of the first week of May, the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) had issued $7.3 million worth of fines to businesses failing to follow COVID-19 guidelines or mask mandates. The state Liquor and Cannabis Board received 11,836 complaints about bars refusing to follow guidelines.

From January to March of this year alone, 25 Spokane businesses received citations from L&I, totaling nearly $174,000. The county had the second-highest number of businesses cited during this period, following King County, which cited 26 businesses. Pierce County was third, citing 19.

Clearly, Spokane is just a small slice, L&I spokesman Tim Church said.

The businesses in Spokane with the most fines during that time period are:

None of them returned The Spokesman-Reviews request for comment.

Some of the businesses may have appealed their citations, which can take a long time to resolve, Church said.

For the entire state of emergency, 15 Spokane bars were investigated for a COVID-19 related complaint, according to the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board. Most received some sort of warning, but five received some kind of penalty, starting at $500 or a five-day suspension.

The Liquor and Cannabis Board deals only with businesses, such as bars or restaurants, that have some sort of liquor license.

The violations include not having a sign on the door signaling to customers to wear a mask and keeping indoor dining open during a time when it was not allowed or at very little capacity, Church said. For a restaurant or a gym that remained opened when they shouldnt have been, they received fines by the day.

Spokane was in Phase 1 of reopening, which kept the county relatively closed, until mid-February. The county then moved to Phase 2, which still restricted indoor dining to 25% capacity.

Violations are broken down into two categories: general or serious. Both types can be considered willful or not willful, meaning the business disregards known rules or has no idea what the rules are in the first place.

A serious violation has a fee associated with it, and if it is willful, the fine grows.

The fines go up exponentially, Church said.

Much of the $7.3 million in L&I fines statewide come from a few businesses who stayed open or ignored worker safety. Gebbers Farm Operations in Brewster received a more than $2 million fine in December after workers complained about COVID-19 conditions. Stuffys II Restaurant in Longview is facing nearly $1 million in citations. Maple Valley Fitness is facing more than $412,000 in fines, Church said.

In Spokane County, so far this year, the company with the largest number of fines is Coles Coffee Shop in Spokane Valley.

The coffee shop had three inspections in February, each resulting in multiple COVID-19 violations. The shop had 14 serious COVID-19 violations totaling more than $126,000 in fines.

One of the citations alleged the coffee shop was open for business and offering indoor dining services despite the states emergency orders prohibiting businesses from offering indoor dining at the time.

COVID-19 remains a significant health risk that has continued to worsen in Washington State and continued operations in contravention of the orders of the Governor unnecessarily endangers employees and creates a substantial probability that death or serious harm could result, the citation reads.

L&I said information about where the citations are in the potential appeals process was not immediately available.

Either a member of the public or an employee can submit COVID-19 complaints to L&I at the states coronavirus response website. L&I oversees both public-facing businesses, such as a grocery store, and businesses that arent public-facing, such as a construction or manufacturing company.

Many of the large citations are likely in the appeals process, which could go on for some time, Church said. Smaller fines likely are paid sooner because it can cost more to appeal than pay the fine.

Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center received a $4,200 fine in March of this year for not ensuring their employees practiced social distancing at nursing workstations, report rooms, and break rooms, according to the citation.

A statement from Providence Health Care said the citation alleged the need for additional social distancing during employee breaks in several areas of the hospital: Providence is cooperating with Labor & Industries, we have addressed the allegation and have appealed the violation. That process is on-going.

When L&I visits a business, inspectors come unannounced, Church said.

Lilac Lanes and Casino general manager Ernie Williams said it was frustrating that they did not get a warning or time to fix their issues before receiving a fine.

The bowling alley and casino in Spokane received a $3,600 fine.

Williams said the citation alleged they did not have enough signage for social distancing or masks, and a few customers were not wearing masks properly.

Williams said they fixed everything immediately.

They appealed the fines and got them down to $2,700, Williams said. Theyve since paid the fine, which added to the million-dollar debt theyve incurred since the pandemic started.

He said it was completely unfair that they did not get a warning. He said they always protected their staff and customers.

We never endangered our staff at all, he said. It was frustrating.

Other businesses cited by L&I in Spokane include Super 1 Foods, which received a $2,700 fine for not ensuring employees properly social distanced or wore a mask. Super 1 Foods did not respond to comment by press time.

Most of the other businesses cited this year are construction or manufacturing companies in Spokane.

Laurel Demkovich's reporting for The Spokesman-Review is funded in part by Report for America and by members of the Spokane community. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspapers managing editor.

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Spokane Valley coffee shop fined $126,000 for COVID-19 violations in first three months of 2021; Sacred Heart among businesses cited - The...