Arielle Dreher

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Omicron season: How can you prepare in the event you test positive?

Sun., Jan. 16, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic is evolving, and more people are getting sick by the day, including those who have been fully vaccinated and received booster shots.

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What to expect as the omicron variant rages in Spokane

Sun., Jan. 16, 2022

The third season of the coronavirus pandemic has brought with it a new variant so transmissible that if you don’t know anyone who has tested positive at this point, think again. You do.

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Upgrade your mask game: Why omicron is leading health officials to recommend better masks

Sun., Jan. 16, 2022

Omicron is very contagious, and health officials are asking the public to up its mask game.

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As staffing crisis worsens in hospitals, legislators look to implement safe staffing standard

UPDATED: Tue., Jan. 18, 2022

The bill would follow a similar model in California that regulates hospital staffing ratios, meal and rest breaks and overtime provisions. 

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Breakthrough COVID-19 cases increasing, but vaccines still keeping people out of hospital

UPDATED: Fri., Jan. 14, 2022

Breakthrough cases, when a person who is fully vaccinated tests positive for COVID-19, are increasing in Washington state.

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National Guard deployed to help Sacred Heart; Inslee pauses nonurgent procedures statewide

UPDATED: Thu., Jan. 13, 2022

Hospitals across the state are at or nearing capacity, Inslee said. An ongoing staffing crisis and increase in COVID-19 cases because of the omicron variant has put hospitals to crisis.

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Failing to share HIV status downgraded from felony to misdemeanor in Washington

UPDATED: Thu., Jan. 13, 2022

The Washington State Board of Health this week adopted new rules to decriminalize HIV exposure, remove stigmatizing language in state law and end legal discrimination against people living with HIV.

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State Health Board rejects measure to ban COVID-19 vaccine requirement for students

UPDATED: Thu., Jan. 13, 2022

The Washington State Board of Health unanimously rejected a measure that would have prevented the board from ever requiring a vaccine under an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration or a product that has not completed Phase 3 clinical trials.

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Spokane County ICUs at 100% occupancy as new daily case record tops 1,200

UPDATED: Thu., Jan. 13, 2022

Spokane County broke a daily record for COVID-19 cases Wednesday, the same day health officials warned that the area’s intensive care units and hospitals are at or near capacity.

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COVID-19 cases triple in Spokane County as omicron takes hold

UPDATED: Tue., Jan. 11, 2022

Spokane County’s coronavirus case rate has tripled in the last few weeks, according to data from the Spokane Regional Health District.

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‘Beyond scary’: Vitalant pleads for donors as local blood supply plummets

UPDATED: Tue., Jan. 11, 2022

The local blood supply has dropped to a two-year low, and Vitalant is asking eligible donors to make and keep appointments.

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COVID-19 testing hard to come by as case counts continue to break records in Spokane County

UPDATED: Tue., Jan. 11, 2022

The demand for testing is not waning in Spokane County, but supply is running short.

News >  Nation/World

Keeping games safe: How to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in a crowd

UPDATED: Tue., Jan. 11, 2022

The omicron variant has changed the pandemic ballgame again, and mitigating risk at sporting events is a tricky and potentially daunting dilemma. Layering protective strategies, including mask and vaccine requirements and eliminating eating and drinking can lower the risk that events pose for transmission.

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Rural hospitals in northeast Washington are struggling to transfer patients for care

UPDATED: Fri., Jan. 7, 2022

The Spokane Regional Health District reported 852 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths on Friday. This is the highest daily case count reported for Spokane County during the entire pandemic.

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‘We’re at our breaking point’: Washington physicians ask state to ease burden on slammed facilities

UPDATED: Thu., Jan. 6, 2022

Health care providers and emergency room physicians are asking the state to help ease the stress felt in emergency departments statewide.

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Western Washington hospitals ‘closer than ever’ to crisis standards, as case counts continue to soar in Spokane

UPDATED: Thu., Jan. 6, 2022

Upgrade your mask, wear it properly, avoid in-person gatherings and brace yourself for what could be a few difficult weeks in the state’s health care system.

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Washington to expand at-home testing, provide free masks as omicron spreads

UPDATED: Wed., Jan. 5, 2022

Inslee did not announce any restrictions or closures and said he would do everything he can to keep schools open.

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Already-stretched local hospitals brace for more COVID-19 hospitalizations as local cases surge

UPDATED: Wed., Jan. 5, 2022

Local hospitals are bracing for another surge of COVID-19 patients with Spokane on Tuesday nearly breaking its record for new daily cases.

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FDA recommends boosters for 12 to 15 year-olds, full approval expected later this week

UPDATED: Mon., Jan. 3, 2022

Booster doses for 12-to-15-year-olds will likely be approved by two federal agencies by the end of the week.

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COVID-19 case counts accelerate statewide, increasing locally likely due to omicron

UPDATED: Tue., Jan. 4, 2022

COVID-19 case counts are skyrocketing statewide. After a couple months of declining virus activity following 2021’s delta variant surge, trends are reversing yet again, likely due to the new highly contagious omicron variant.

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Washington health department updates standards for rationing care if hospitals get overwhelmed

Thu., Dec. 30, 2021

Washington officials have updated standards hospital officials will use if they get so many patients they no longer have the ability to treat them all.

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Omicron coronavirus variant detected in Spokane County

UPDATED: Wed., Dec. 29, 2021

The omicron variant of coronavirus has been detected in Spokane, Benton, Franklin and Yakima counties, health officials confirmed Wednesday in the state’s latest variant report.

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Telehealth opens doors to treatment in North Idaho

UPDATED: Sat., Jan. 1, 2022

Angela Jepson has tried several drug treatment programs over the years, but recently, she’s found something that’s working.

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Difference Makers: In the ER and in the community, Dr. Sam Artzis leads northeast Washington through the pandemic against wall of misinformation

UPDATED: Tue., Dec. 28, 2021

The COVID-19 vaccine campaign in northeastern Washington started with a road trip. About a year ago on a snowy winter night, Dr. Sam Artzis and Aaron Edwards, CEO of Ferry County Hospital, drove to Tonasket to get extra Pfizer vaccine doses at the hospital there.

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A shortage ‘never seen before’: Health care unions push for safe staffing standards

UPDATED: Fri., Dec. 24, 2021

Sarah Norisada is no stranger to multitasking. In fact, it’s essential to her role as a certified nursing assistant at MultiCare Deaconess Hospital.