Variants

The Kraken variant, XBB.1.5, increased its share of new US cases. However, it has not caused a surge in the overall number of cases nationally or within Washington state.  

Here’s what we know about XBB.1.5 at this point in the year. 

• As of February 4, 2023, the XBB.1.5 variant makes up 66.4% of all new cases in the US, followed by BQ.1.1 (19.9%), BQ.1 (7.3%) and XBB (2.3%). 
• According to the World Health Organization, there is “moderate-strength evidence for increased risk of transmission and immune escape,” but “no early signals of increases in severity have been observed.”

Trends

Hospitalizations and cases are trending down. Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers for Washington state.

As of January 28, 2023

Compared to last winter (January 28, 2022)

*Shows 7-day rate

** Due to an increase in at-home testing, many positive cases may not be reported, distorting the data. Test positivity in Washington has been increasing steadily through the winter, from 6% in mid-November to 11.6% by the end of December. 

Recovery. Finding a Way Forward after Crisis.

On Wednesday, February 8, Dr. Kira Mauseth and Dr. Tona McGuire led a conversation on our shared pandemic experiences with nearly 100 participants from the school community.

Drs. Mauseth and Maguire outlined strategies for active listening. They talked openly about trauma responses in the wake of the pandemic through the lens of administrators, educators and students, giving practical advice on how to navigate and acknowledge trauma on a personal and professional level.

These listening and coping strategies can inform better emergency operations for the future.

Did you miss the event? Or want to re-visit the important lessons Drs. Mauseth and Maguire shared? Watch now:

Key take aways:

• Take time and pause before responding (via email, text, in person)
• Manage yourself, your schedule and your energy for the long haul
• Identify strategies that have helped you in the past
• Don’t forget outside time, especially in the fall and winter months
• Engage in physical activity to activate your neurological system
• Try different active coping strategies (rather than passive/avoidant coping like substance abuse)
• Remember: Resilience is a process, not an accomplishment or a drill to be won
• When engaging in difficult conversations with parents and families, take stock of your energy and what zone of regulation you fall into (high limbic activity vs limbic system and prefrontal cortex working together)

In the coming weeks, attendees will be invited to join smaller discussions with Drs. Mauseth and McGuire to help them organize and facilitate similar discussions with their teams based on their own unique circumstances.

Watch Drs. Mauseth and McGuire in action during our December Learning Network event, Living in Times of Response and Recovery: Communication and Engagement Strategies for Ongoing Pandemic Response.

L2R Spotlight Series. Highlighting comprehensive and impactful testing programs.

Members of our school community continue to do incredible work to prevent the spread of COVID-19 amongst students and staff.

L2R’s Spotlight series highlights the work of schools throughout Washington State, illustrating the ways they’ve creatively and proactively addressed the many challenges faced throughout different phases of the pandemic. 

In our first three Spotlights, we met school leaders who built strong testing programs for their unique schools and communities. Although each school community was a different size, with different challenges and populations, a number of consistent themes were evident across all.

As the pandemic response evolves, these themes remain relevant and can help schools navigate not only where we are, but where we’re going.

Our first three Spotlights illustrated a number of characteristics of a successful testing program:

Members of our school community continue to do incredible work to prevent the spread of COVID-19 amongst students and staff.

Visit our NEW Spotlight landing page for a more detailed look at the characteristics of a successful COVID-19 school testing program. Watch the space for upcoming Spotlights and contact your Program Manager if you’d like your school testing program featured!

DOH Guidance Update. The most up-to-date decision trees.

The Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Decision Trees for the General Public have been updated to reflect WA DOH guidance for people who have COVID-19 symptoms and people who have been exposed to COVID-19. The decision trees are for the general public and non-health care settings, including schools and child cares

Updated Decision Trees 

Additional information is available in these helpful DOH Fact Sheets:

Flu activity is down in Washington. Here are the lastest numbers.

After peaking early in the season, flu activity has been slowing down in Washington over the past several weeks. Here are the most recent trends:

• According to the CDC, flu-like illness activity in Washington state is currently MINIMAL. 
• So far there have been a total of 210 lab-confirmed flu deaths (4 children, 206 adults) this season in Washington state (an increase of 42 deaths since January 14). In comparison, there were a total of 520 flu deaths over the past 8 years combined at this point in the season.
• Outpatient visits for influenza like illness (ILI) in Washington state have declined steadily over the past month, down to 639 total visits in the week ending January 28th, a 49% decrease over the past four weeks.

Flu season continues! Be prepared by adding BD Triplex to your testing strategy.

BD Veritor Plus Triplex (SARS-CoV2, Flu A+B) or “BD Triplex” is a point-of-care rapid antigen test that can help stop the spread of respiratory illnesses by detecting both COVID-19 and Flu A & B with a single sample.

DOH has already approved over 39,000 BD Triplex tests for over 115 Washington school districts and private schools who ordered through the Learn to Return program. 

Here’s how you can get started with BD Triplex:

• Order your tests now through the DOH ordering portal.
• Use the BD Triplex toolkit as a guide for introducing this test to your school community.
• Use these customizable email templates to share information about BD Triplex with families (available in 36 languages!).

Reach out to your L2R Program Manager for help onboarding this new test.

Know your COVID-19 community levels.

As of February 1, 2023, two counties, Walla Walla County and Columbia County, have a COVID-19 community level of medium, according to the CDC. All other counties have a low COVID-19 community level.

• Masking and screening testing are recommended best practices when your community level is high.
• Masking is recommended for high-risk individuals when your community level is medium or high.

How are community levels determined? 

The CDC uses data on weekly case rates, hospitalizations, and hospital capacity (% of inpatient beds used by COVID-19 patients) to determine COVID-19 Community Levels for each county. Learn more about how the CDC calculates community levels here.

We made a mistake :/ Corrected links for Swab and Jab!

Last newsletter, we shared Swab and Jab Learning Club resources about how COVID-19 is spread…but we didn’t include the right links. 

You can access those resources below or on the Swab & Jab page! 

COVID-19 NEWS