COVID-19 cases on the uptick in Yakima County – Yakima Herald-Republic

Stay up to date on vaccinations and wear a mask. Those are the key messages from local and state health officials ahead of Memorial Day weekend.

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are on the rise in Washington, and Yakima County has recently started to see an uptick. That rise is concerning with mask requirements reduced and large gatherings on the horizon, said health officer Dr. Neil Barg with the Yakima Health District.

As people gear up for parties and barbecues indoors or outdoors, they should take extra care to keep themselves and others safe, Barg said.

People will be gathering in large groups, so I expect things will go up in June, Barg said. This has happened every time theres been a big holiday.

State Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah said spread across the state will happen, but the severity of the increase depends on peoples behaviors.

We really have an opportunity to get ahead of this and prevent it, Shah said.

Preventive measures include staying up to date with vaccines and getting a booster dose, wearing masks while indoors or in close quarters, getting tested, and staying home if symptoms develop or if test results are positive.

COVID-19 levels remain low in Yakima County, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention measurement that comes from case counts and hospital data, but cases and hospitalizations are on the rise.

The health district reported 220 new cases for the week of May 13-20, up from 139 the previous week. In early April, total weekly case counts dipped below 50.

The health district is releasing weekly data each Friday.

Barg said the strain going around is omicron BA.2, or stealth omicron. It is more contagious than the original omicron but comes with less severe illness, he said.

It does appear initially, like omicron, that its less serious, Barg said. But if it develops into many, many, many people becoming infected, like with the first strain of omicron, we still could have a strain on the hospital system and health care workers.

Health district data showed six people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Yakima County as of Friday. Barg said that number had increased to 10 people hospitalized as of Tuesday, but none of the individuals were in the ICU or on a ventilator.

So far, the number of people seriously ill has not increased, he said.

No COVID-19 deaths have been reported so far this month. Barg said that its still early, but that piece of information may point to the BA.2 variant being less severe.

Well probably see deaths at some point, but the slower they come on the less severe the entire outbreak will be, he said.

Kristin Travis, a community outreach doula, holds a home COVID-19 test kit Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022, while picking up supplies at Open Arms Perinatal Services before going out to visit some of her clients in Seattle.

Barg said Yakima County is lagging behind other communities in the state when it comes to cases.

Were a little bit behind Seattle all the time, but Seattles not seeing an explosion of cases, Barg said. Theyre just higher than we are now.

The 7-day case rate in Washington was 245 cases per 100,000 for the week beginning May 7, according to the state dashboard. Thats compared to a 7-day case rate of 58 cases per 100,000 in Yakima County during the same week, the state dashboard said.

Health secretary Shah said increases are happening particularly in western Washington, but its just a matter of time until those increases reach other communities.

Really, its a matter of spread happening, and it is hard to predict in which direction it will go, Shah said. I will tell you that youll start to see increases in communities throughout Washington.

State board of health member Dr. Bob Lutz said trends in the western part of the state often predate trends in the eastern side, but not always.

I think we just have to be sensitive to the fact that, yes, cases are rising on the west side (and) were seeing the rise on the east side, not to the same degree, Lutz said, but it really does come down to how much risk and the environments in which people find themselves.

Masks are strongly recommended for people in riskier environments, he said, and people should also make sure they are up to date on vaccines.

Though cases are increasing, Barg said it is hard to predict what the next several weeks will look like in Yakima County. The first omicron variant increased slowly in the beginning, too, he said, and then it bumped up quickly.

We dont know whats going to happen in the next four to six weeks, so we hope its just a slow rise and then it goes down again. But its too early to predict that, he said.

Vaccines prevent serious illness, Barg said. He also recommended people stay up to date on their vaccine series.

In Yakima County, 59% of the total population has completed a primary vaccine series, and for the population 5 and older, about 64% have completed the primary series. About 45% of the eligible population has received a booster dose, according to the state dashboard.

At the state level, 68% of the total population has completed a primary vaccine series and about 58% of those eligible have received a booster.

Barg encouraged people who are eligible to get the second booster shot. That dose is available for people 50 years of age and older, some immunocompromised people age 12 or older, and people age 18 or older who received a primary vaccine and booster dose of the J&J vaccine.

It seems to protect people better than just the one booster, Barg said.

He also said people who have already had omicron are well protected against the BA2 variant. People are even better protected if they have had omicron and are up to date on vaccinations, he said.

A list of upcoming community vaccine clinics is available at YakimaVaccines.org.

Yakima County residents can still order free, rapid home tests to be delivered to their door from either the federal government at COVIDtests.gov or the state DOH at sayyeshometest.org. For the federal program, people can also call 1-800-232-0233 for help placing an order.

Additional information on at-home testing is available on the health district website.

I think thats working really well for a lot of folks because its really not an uncomfortable test and it takes 15 minutes to get the answer, Barg said about at-home testing.

Free COVID-19 testing is also available at the Yakima Valley College community testing site at 810 S. 14th Ave in Yakima, or at various clinics and pharmacies throughout the county. The community site is open 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

People in high risk groups who test positive for COVID should talk to their doctors about getting a prescription for Paxlovid, Barg said.

He said the antiviral drug is available in Yakima County for people who qualify. It must be taken within five days after a positive test.

It really reduces the risk of hospitalization and severe illness in people that fall into the (high) risk group, Barg said. If you do get treated, you should not think that youre not contagious right away.

People should continue to follow the CDC isolation and mask guidelines after testing positive and taking Paxlovid, he said.

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COVID-19 cases on the uptick in Yakima County - Yakima Herald-Republic