What you need to know about coronavirus Saturday, Aug. 15 – KING5.com

Find developments on the coronavirus pandemic and the plan for recovery in the U.S. and Washington state.

Where cases stand in Washington:

Many people who have recovered from COVID-19 are wondering if they're now immune to the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added a new passage to its website that gave those patients hope, but some doctors are urging caution.

The two-sentence blurb, which made national headlines on Friday, provides guidance for when to quarantine after possible COVID exposure.

"People who have tested positive for COVID-19 do not need to quarantine or get tested again for up to 3 months as long as they do not develop symptoms again, the CDC states.

The Food and Drug Administration announced Saturday that the agency has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for a saliva-based coronavirus test developed by Yale University. The test, funded by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association, is being touted as a "game changer" by health officials.

The FDA issued the EUA to Yale's School of Public Health for the SalivaDirect COVID-19 diagnostic test, which uses a new method that processes samples of saliva.

FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D. saidin a release, Providing this type of flexibility for processing saliva samples to test for COVID-19 infection is groundbreaking in terms of efficiency and avoiding shortages of crucial test components like reagents."

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has extended the moratorium on residential, nonprofit, and small business evictions through December 31 in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Mayor Durkan signed the executive order on Friday.

While the moratorium is in place, property owners may not issue termination notices or initiate an eviction action with the courts unless there is an "imminent threat to the health and safety of the community," according to a statement from city officials on Friday.

The spread of coronavirus has started to flatten, according to state health officials, who are attributing the plateau to mask use.

Case counts are plateauing or declining across age groups in King and Yakima counties, according to a new report. Pierce County cases also might be on the decline, according to the state.

However, that doesn't mean that people can let their guards down, according to state Secretary of Health John Wiesman.

Plateauing is not enough to keep this pandemic under control; we must transition to a state of sustained decline in new cases," he said.

The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) on Friday released a report that analyzes the risks of sending students back to school for in-person instruction in the fall versus remote learning.

The report by the Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM) measures the tradeoffs between minimizing COVID-19 related health risks and maximizing educational benefits for students.

Health officials do outline a plan that could put some of the youngest students back in the classroom for a limited amount of time during the week, on a rotating schedule with other students to help limit the spread of the virus.

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What you need to know about coronavirus Saturday, Aug. 15 - KING5.com