Coronavirus cases continue to flatten in Washington; officials 'hopeful' state has turned a corner

Coronavirus cases are continuing to flatten across Washington, a hopeful sign the state may have turned a corner in its fourth wave.

But, cases and hospitalizations are still high across the state, and demand for vaccines has started to soften, health officials said Wednesday. Officials are encouraging people to continue to do everything they can to slow the spread of the virus, including getting vaccinated and following safety protocols. 

"We continue to be hopeful on the direction that we're going as a state and the trends that we're seeing," Secretary of Health Umair Shah said during a news briefing Wednesday.

The state started to see cases plateau in April. According to the most recent complete data as of May 3, the state was seeing a rate of about 248 new cases per 100,0000 people over the previous 14 days.

For hospitalizations, the state saw a rate of about 7.1 hospital admissions per 100,000 people over the seven days prior to April 30, a slight dip from April 27, when the state was seeing a rate of 7.6 hospitalizations per 100,000 people. 

"We have now seen some hopeful signs of hospital admissions also appear to be flattening or plateauing as well," Shah said. "The measures that we have been putting in place ... are really starting to slow the pace of transmission. While it is still increasing as of April 23, it's a slower pace than we were seeing in early April ."

Gov. Jay Inslee last week announced the state would take a two-week pause in its reopening plan, meaning no counties would be moved back or forward -- yet. The decision was made as cases started to level out across the state. Next week, state officials are expected to reevaluate the data and see whether counties are exceeding the metrics on case rates or hospitalizations needed to remain in the phase they are in.

 It's not yet clear how many counties will still be exceeding those thresholds when officials reassess the data.

"We do recognize that these are trends that are hopeful," Shah said, "but again we have to continue to see those trends permeate as we move forward."

But -- even as cases plateau -- there are still concerns. Variants thought to be more infectious are circulating more widely in the community and the majority of people in the state are not yet fully protected from the virus through vaccination. 

The most recent data shows nearly 57% of the eligible population 16 and over have received at least one dose of the vaccine and nearly 43% are fully vaccinated. Of the total population, just over one-third of Washington residents are fully vaccinated. 

That means still a significant percentage of people are not yet protected.

"We have been seeing a softening of demand in not just certain parts of Washington, but in communities throughout Washington and we want to do everything we can to encourage and incentivize Washingtonians to be vaccinated," Shah said. "We want the vaccine choice to be the default choice."

The state next week is expecting to receive nearly 400,000 vaccine doses, a similar allocation as it has been receiving in past weeks. Providers have been ordering less vaccine than in the past, said Michele Roberts, who leads the COVID-19 vaccine planning and distribution team. That could be due to a number of reasons, including that providers may already have vaccine on hand, that they know there will be more vaccine available in the future and that so much vaccine is coming in through other programs. 

"Demand  has also slowed down some," Roberts said. "That's why its important for us to continue to spread information, help answer questions and make sure the vaccine is available to all types of locations."

Officials are also hopeful children 12 to 15 years old will soon be able to get their vaccines in Washington. That will mean about 378,0000 children will become eligible for the vaccine, Shah said.

"We want to then encourage parents, once this vaccine is approved for adolescents, to really do everything they can to encourage their children to get vaccinated and certainly to do everything they can to get them vaccinated," Shah said. 

Vaccinations are one of the key tools the state has to protect the community and open up more fully in the future. The state is already seeing positive signs from the vaccines -- especially among older adults who have had high rates of vaccination.

"The more people who are vaccinated, the more we all benefit as a community," Roberts said. "We still have high rates of disease in our community. The sooner more people are vaccinated and protected, the sooner we can get back to doing the things we loved to do before this pandemic."