Ten omicron cases confirmed in Washington state so far

Ten omicron cases have been confirmed in four counties in Western Washington, according to the state health department’s latest report.

It’s still not clear how the spreading variant will affect hospitalizations, but preliminary data shows booster shots might help.

“There’s a significant increase in protective antibodies with the administration of booster shots,” Spokane County Health Officer Dr. Francisco Velázquez told reporters Wednesday.

Preliminary studies from England, South Africa and most recently from MIT are showing that boosters increase the protection against the omicron variant, Velázquez said. The studies are new and have yet to be peer-reviewed.

And while the data is preliminary, national data from nursing homes appear to corroborate the effectiveness of boosters in keeping virus activity low.

The highest weekly case rates in nursing homes are in unvaccinated residents, and cases are increasing in nursing homes where residents are unvaccinated or have yet to receive booster doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In nursing homes with fully vaccinated residents who have also received booster doses, however, the COVID-19 infection rate is 10 times lower.

The Spokane Regional Health District has been working with long-term care facilities to ensure residents and staff members have access to boosters.

“Thus far, that has been successful,” Velázquez said. “We have not seen the significant number of outbreaks that we saw earlier in the pandemic before the vaccines.”

There are 311 confirmed COVID-19 cases among 15 long-term care facilities in Spokane County. Just one positive COVID-19 case is considered an outbreak in these settings, and no facilities have reported additional or new cases since Dec. 6.

Health officials are hopeful that continued efforts to get booster doses out, especially to those most medically vulnerable to COVID-19, will help blunt spread of the new omicron variant.

Here’s a look at local numbers

The Spokane Regional Health District reported 68 new COVID-19 cases and two additional deaths.

Reports show 1,127 people of Spokane County have died of COVID-19.

There are 74 patients hospitalized in Spokane with the virus.

The Panhandle Health District reported 70 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and no additional deaths.

There are 75 Panhandle residents hospitalized.