Tag: Health, Local News

Six days after state health officials unveiled careful plans for the next stages of prioritized coronavirus vaccination, the Trump administration asked governors nationwide to scrap much of that work and rapidly expand eligibility to receive doses. Alex Azar, the federal secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), called for governors to allow vaccination of anyone […]

The United States has surpassed a grim tally of 350,000 COVID-19 deaths and 20.4 million cases of the virus. In Southern California, funeral homes say they must turn away grieving families as they run out of space for the bodies piling up. The head of the state funeral directors association says mortuaries are being inundated. […]

On the same December morning that the recorded number of Americans killed by the coronavirus passed 300,000, the first batch of vaccines that could bring an end to the pandemic of 2020 arrived at the University of Washington Medical Center. Hospital staff, wearing insulated gloves to handle the vaccines stored at 94 degrees below zero, […]

The first flight from the United Kingdom to arrive in Washington state after Gov. Jay Inslee announced quarantine requirements on travelers from countries with a new, more transmissible coronavirus variant, landed Wednesday. The British Airways flight from London landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport carrying about 80 passengers. They are all required to quarantine for 14 […]

SOAP LAKE, Grant County — For months, McKay Healthcare & Rehab staff kept its elderly residents safe from COVID-19. But in late October, the virus slipped into the center’s 8-decade-old building. By mid-December, 15 of the 31 residents had died from the disease. In the struggle to fight the virus, some staff members worked 24-hour […]

The Lummi Nation began vaccinations Thursday, becoming one of the nation’s first to provide protection to its tribal members against a disease that has had an outsized and devastating impact on some American Indian and Alaska Native communities.  The tribal nation received 300 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine Tuesday, said Dr. Dakotah Lane, medical director of […]

As the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine began to ship across the United States, Gov. Jay Inslee on Sunday announced that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had won the approval of an independent group of scientists in Western states, paving the way for some Washington residents, mostly health care workers, to receive inoculations. “We are ready to […]

Washington’s latest round of sweeping COVID-19 restrictions will stay in place through Christmas and into the new year. Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee announced the wide-ranging restrictions he ordered Nov. 15 — shutting down indoor dining and gyms and limiting social gatherings — will be extended to Jan. 4. Inslee also […]

Two new self-administered, oral coronavirus testing sites will open to Seattleites in Northgate and the Central District this weekend, adding more than 1,000 tests to the city’s daily capacity, city officials announced Friday. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins confirmed the new sites during a news conference last month. The testing […]

Health care workers on the frontlines against the coronavirus and residents of long-term care facilities should get the first doses of vaccines, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee decided Tuesday. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) decision — which received 13 votes of approval and one against — will help […]