State ‘not out of the woods’ with flu and coronavirus on the rise
While RSV activity has peaked, Washington state public health officials warned Tuesday that flu and coronavirus activity is still on the rise.
Warning of a potential “tripledemic,” Washington Secretary of Health Umair Shah officials urged people to get the updated coronavirus booster and flu shot, mask up in indoor environments and stay home while sick.
“We’re not saying do not gather,” he said. “What we’re saying instead is to take steps to be smart and prevent getting sick and getting others sick.”
Shah said the department now does not intend to implement a statewide mask mandate and refused to speculate on what metrics would bring one back. Masks are still required in health care and correctional facilities, he said.
While RSV has peaked, Department of Health (DOH) Chief Science Officer Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett warned that the state is “not out of the woods yet.”
“Hospitals are at a crucial point,” DOH Assistant Secretary Michele Roberts said. “We need to do whatever is possible to alleviate pressure on our already stressed out health care system.”
Shah warned the healthcare system is still seeing a “winter surge” in cases of RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, and not just among children and infants.
Symptoms of RSV are similar to the common cold, though young children may also have labored breathing or wheezing and RSV can cause bronchiolitis and viral pneumonia in infants and toddlers, he said.
Most children and adults can recover from RSV without treatment, Kwan-Gett said, and testing for RSV is not recommended.
After flu activity was reduced by coronavirus restrictions for two years, flu is “hitting earlier and harder” even compared to the 2019 to 2020 season, Kwan-Gett said.
Washington has a high level of transmission among other states and officials said the current flu shot provides protection against Influenza A, the dominant strain circulating. So far there have been 26 influenza deaths in Washington, including three children, he said.
Roberts said after there was “supply issues” with the state’s free at-home coronavirus rapid test program starting Thanksgiving weekend and the following week, Washington has obtained 3 million additional at-home tests. Each household can order 10 tests through December, however in January the program will be “ramping down” to five free tests per month, she said.
Officials also reminded the public that most insurers are required to cover a certain number of rapid tests each month.
— Seattle Times
4 people stabbed at state casino; man arrested
A man at a poker table went on a sudden, unprovoked attack at a casino in Washington state Monday night, stabbing or slashing four people before being arrested after a high-speed car chase, authorities said.
All four victims were expected to survive, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in southwestern Washington.
The attack happened just before midnight at the New Phoenix and Last Frontier casinos, table game and poker establishments that share a building in the town of La Center. Several witnesses called 911 to report the stabbings and said the suspect was armed with what appeared to be a hunting knife.
Patrons and employees confronted the attacker but he was able to make it to a car and fled, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies found the vehicle and pursued it, the sheriff’s office said, with the chase reaching speeds of more than 100 mph. Police used an “immobilization technique” to stop the vehicle and arrested the driver.
Video from the casino showed a man sitting at a poker table before reaching down, grabbing something and then standing and stabbing the man next to him five times in the head and chest “without provocation or warning,” the sheriff’s office said.
Several people tried to intervene, but the man began swinging the knife at them and then stabbed a woman sitting at the same table, police said. The suspect chased another man into the parking lot and stabbed him when he fell, then drove off.
It was not immediately clear how the fourth victim was wounded. All four were taken to a nearby hospital, and three of them were treated and released.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office said Scott Harmier, 41, of Vancouver, Washington, is charged with four counts of felony assault. Jail records do not show if he has obtained an attorney. Harmier is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning.
In a statement on its Facebook page, the casino called the attack unprovoked and said its human resources department was researching counseling options for staff and guests.
“Our thoughts and prayers are extended for all affected,” it said.
Mass stabbings are less common than mass shootings in the U.S., but they happen. In October, an attacker with a large knife killed two people and wounded six others along the Las Vegas Strip before he was arrested.
The suspect in that case, Yoni Christian Barrios, 32, has been ordered to remain at a state psychiatric facility until doctors determine he can understand the criminal charges against him.
— Associated Press
Fines for late toll payments to return
People who don’t pay their Washington state highway tolls have enjoyed a long break from fees and penalties, but that’s about to end March 1.
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) announced Tuesday that it’s bringing back the $5 late-payment fee for missing the due date, and the civil penalties of $40 per trip on tolls that go unpaid for 80 days. The state will also re-establish its policy to deny annual license-tab renewals to owners with bills overdue a half-year or longer, until accounts are settled.
However, WSDOT will not be retroactively charging penalties during what it called a “grace period” that was supposed to be short, but eventually reached 20 months.
— Seattle Times
