Newsletter
25 January 2024
COVID-19 SURGE
Yes, we’re in a COVID-19 surge.
But we might be past the peak.
TESTING
New At-Home tests.
InteliSwab coming soon!
Trends
Respiratory Virus Season.
COVID-19, Flu and RSV in Washington.
Resources
DOH free COVID-19 antiviral telehealth program remains available!
Download to promote telehealth.
COVID-19 SURGE
Yes, we’re in a COVID-19 surge.
But we might be past the peak.
What does a COVID-19 surge look like in 2024?
It’s not just your imagination; a lot of people are getting sick as we head deeper into respiratory virus season. In the US over the week ending January 6, 2024, COVID-19 hospitalizations increased by 3.2%, pushing the country as a whole into the medium category for hospitalizations (10-19 admissions per 100k per week). Deaths were up an alarming 14.3% over the same period, making up 4% of all reported deaths.
According to the CDC, the new variant JN.1 has been driving this surge, responsible for 86% of the country’s COVID-19 infections as of January 20. This prevalence is due to the variant’s improved ability to skirt lingering immunity from prior vaccinations and infections.
There’s no doubt we are in a COVID-19 surge, but hospitalizations and deaths remain lower at the beginning of 2024 than they were at the start of the previous two years.
| Hospitalization Rate (admission per 100k population) | % of deaths due to COVID-19 | |
|---|---|---|
| Week ending Jan 6, 2024 | 9.9 | 4% |
| Week ending Jan 7, 2023 | 13.4 | 5.6% |
| Week ending Jan 8, 2022 | 41 | 19% |
Are we past the peak? The latest numbers.
After surging in late December and early January, hospitalizations are starting to decline. For the week ending January 13, hospitalizations decreased by 10% putting the country as a whole back into the low category for hospitalization rates (less than 10 admissions per 100k population per week). COVID-19 deaths ticked up by three tenths of percent over the same reporting period, but will likely follow the trend in hospitalizations over the coming weeks.
(To view Washington’s data, keep reading).
Viral activity levels in wastewater suggest high transmission rates
Positive cases are harder to track these days since testing is conducted mostly at home with rapid tests, but data on COVID-19 viral activity in wastewater suggests a big spike in transmission at the end of December and first weeks of the new year. According to the CDC, COVID-19 viral activity in the country’s wastewater is VERY HIGH. In fact, levels are the highest they’ve been since the Omicron wave in January 2022. Based on these data, some experts think we are in the second largest wave of the pandemic, though virulence may be lower. (See our trends section below for data on wastewater viral activity in Washington state).
Do rapid tests detect JN.1?
Yes, rapid antigen tests should still accurately detect the JN.1 variant.
These tests detect a part of the virus that is typically unaffected by new mutations, so over the course of the pandemic rapid tests have remained a reliable way to diagnose COVID-19 at home.
However, people can greatly reduce their chances of a false negative by knowing how to correctly use rapid antigen tests. As the virus has evolved so has its incubation period and the window in which we are most contagious. This means if someone tests too early, they could get a false negative. The big takeaway here is: if someone suspects they have COVID-19 or have been exposed, they should continue to test over several days after an initial negative result. See the CDC recommendations for using rapid antigen tests.
The CDC recommends that all people aged 6 months and older stay up to date on COVID-19 vaccines.
“We are thankful for the partnership with Health Commons Project which helped us provide mobile testing and site testing for our community. We strive to help people overcome barriers and help people who are underserved.
The BD Triplex Testing helps people determine the cause of their symptoms with two different viruses with one swab. This is efficient for the community and for staff time.”
Testing
New At-Home tests.
InteliSwab coming soon!
Starting February 2024, when you order free At-home tests through our Test Request Form, you will now receive InteliSwab rapid antigen tests instead of the Abbott BinaxNOW we’ve distributed over the past several months.
Why this change?
Stocks of BinaxNOW have been depleted, but DOH maintains inventories of COVID-19 tests from several different testing vendors. All vendors are vetted by DOH and represent the best in COVID-19 testing technologies. InteliSwab is currently on the shelves and will be shipped out free of charge to WA COVID-19 agencies who order At-home tests.
MEET InteliSwab
InteliSwab is a rapid antigen test that can be used for point-of-care or at-home/self COVID-19 testing in your community. Like most rapid antigen tests, samples are collected with a shallow nasal swab, dipped into reagent solution, and resulted within 15 minutes.
Here’s what else to know when ordering InteliSwab:
- It’s similar to other rapid antigen tests, like BinaxNOW, and can be integrated easily into your existing program. (Here’s a quick how-to video).
- There are 48 individual tests in each box that DOH ships (2 tests per kit, 24 kits per box)
- When ordering, enter the amount of individual tests you want in multiples of 48. For instance, if you want 240 tests (or 5 boxes of 48 tests) enter “240” in the testing form.
- The Inteliswab tests you will receive expire in July 2024. Note that the printed expiration date on the box does not always reflect the extended shelf-life approved by the FDA. You can look-up the extension for your InteliSwab tests by finding the lot number on this form.
Review the InteliSwab instructions for use for more information.
Reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.
Trends
Respiratory Virus Season.
COVID-19, Flu, and RSV in Washington.
Respiratory Illness Activity in Washington:
For the week ending January 20, infections for COVID-19, Flu, and RSV seem to be in decline in Washington state, but that follows sharp rises for each virus over the preceding weeks. Between December 16, 2023 and January 6, 2024, the percent of hospitalizations caused by COVID-19 jumped by 48% (2.3% to 3.4% of all hospitalizations). Over the same time period the percent of hospitalizations caused by Flu and RSV increased by 54% and 36% respectively. Over the latest reporting period (week ending January 20), hospitalizations caused by these viruses have started to fall, but Flu and RSV activity remains higher than it was over the same time period the previous two years. We may be starting a downslope, but respiratory virus season is still in full swing.
See our statewide snapshot below and jump to sections on COVID-19, Flu, and RSV for more details on each virus.
STATEWIDE SNAPSHOT
For the week ending January 13, 2024.
Current year
| Week ending February 17, 2024 | % of hospitalizations | 7-day change | % of ER visits | 7-day change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 | 1.8% | ⬇28% | 1.7% | ⬇19% |
| Flu | 0.6% | ⬇33% | 1.2% | ⬇14% |
| RSV | 0.3% | ⬇50% | 0.4% | ⬇20% |
Last year
| Week ending February 18, 2023 | % of hospitalizations | 7-day change | % of ER visits | 7-day change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 | 4% | 0% | 2.6% | ⬇7% |
| Flu | 0.1% | ⬇50% | 0.1% | ⬇50% |
| RSV | 0.2% | 0% | 0.2% | 0% |
COVID-19 IN WASHINGTON
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Washington have declined by 18% over the week ending January 13, falling from a rate of 5.78 admissions per 100k population the week before. Since December 16, 2023, the hospitalization rate has climbed by 28%, but the state as a whole has remained in the low category for hospitalizations (less than 10 admissions per 100k population per week). As of January 13, all Washington counties have a low rate of hospitalizations, according to the CDC.
Although rates remain low in all counties, the change in hospitalization rates for the week ending January 13 shows increased activity in 6 counties: Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Thurston, and Whatcom. These counties had a weekly increase in hospitalization rates of 20% or more over the week ending January 13.
NEW METRIC – WASTEWATER
People infected with COVID-19 can shed the virus in their feces even if they are not symptomatic. The shed virus can then be detected in wastewater, enabling wastewater surveillance to capture the presence of SARS-CoV-2 shed by people with and without symptoms. Viral activity in wastewater can therefore be a more accurate depiction of viral transmission in a community.
Viral activity levels of COVID-19 Washington’s wastewater is currently VERY HIGH. This suggests an ongoing surge in transmission even as indicators of virulence (hospitalizations, ED visits, and death) may be starting to decline.
COVID-19 Hospitalizations by ACH region
A note on this data: County data is grouped by regions called “Accountable Communities of Health (ACH)”. According to the Washington State Department of Health, “instead of showing data by individual counties, the DOH dashboard uses larger regional areas called Accountable Communities of Health (ACH), because sometimes there is not enough data reported from the county level to display publicly while maintaining an individual’s privacy.”
In the table below, each county is listed under its ACH.
| For week ending February 17, 2024 | Percent of all hospital admissions | Change over previous week |
| Washington state | 1.8% | ⬇28% |
| Better Health Together (Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Lincoln, Adams) | 1.9% | ⬇14% |
| Cascade Pacific (Grays Harbor, Mason, Thurston, Pacific, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Lewis) | 2.1% | ⬇38% |
| Elevate Health (Pierce) | 1.1% | ⬇48% |
| Greater Health Now (Kittitas, Yakima, Benton, Franklin, Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield, Whitman, Asotin) | 2.6% | ⬇24% |
| Healthier Here (King) | 1.7% | ⬇29% |
| North Sound (Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom, San Juan, Island) | 1.9% | ⬇24% |
| Olympic (Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap) | 3.1% | ⬇6% |
| Southwest (Clark, Skamania, Klickitat) | 1.5% | ⬇17% |
| Thriving Together (Grant, Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan) | 2.8% | ⬆22% |
FLU IN WASHINGTON
For the week ending January 13, 2024, flu activity is MODERATE in Washington state.
Here’s the latest on flu activity for Washington state:
- There have been 42 lab-confirmed flu deaths (one child, 41 adults) in Washington since October 1*. That’s an increase of 33 deaths since our last newsletter in mid-December.
- For the week ending January 13, 2.6% of outpatient visits were for influenza-like illness, above the baseline of 1.9% but down from 3.5% the previous week.
- For the week ending January 13, 1.3% of hospital admissions were for flu, down 35% from the previous week.
*DOH monitors flu activity throughout the year, but data resets on October 1. All flu data for the 2023-2024 season will be aggregated from October 1 onward.
Make sure to stock up on our BD Triplex tests which detect Flu and COVID-19 in minutes using one sample.
RSV IN WASHINGTON
RSV activity jumped between mid-December and early January 2024. The percentage of hospitalizations caused by RSV increased by 36% between December 16 and January 6. Over the same time period, ED visits for RSV rose by 8% after peaking in late December at 1.5% of all ED visits. These trends are starting to decline over the week ending January 20, but ED visits are still higher than they were at this point during the previous two seasons.
Here’s what else to know:
- RSV disproportionately affects younger children. For the week ending January 20, children aged 2 years and younger accounted for 23% of all pediatric RSV hospitalizations (0-17 years).
- There have been 40 deaths in Washington state caused by RSV so far this season. There were 80 deaths at this point in the respiratory virus season in 2022-2023.
Resources
DOH free COVID-19 antiviral telehealth program remains available!
Download resources to promote telehealth antiviral options in your community.
DOH has created a toolkit to aid partners in communicating about the COVID-19 Telehealth program. This initiative provides free rapid virtual health consultations to determine eligibility for oral antiviral treatments, such as Paxlovid, to individuals who are 12 years or older and have mild to moderate COVID symptoms. It’s particularly beneficial for those at higher risk of severe illness due to factors like age over 50 or specific medical conditions like chronic heart or lung issues, obesity, diabetes, or weakened immune systems. The toolkit, available on a DOH website, includes talking points, email templates, social media posts, and a detailed guide on how to use each resource.
Learn more and get the most up to date information about the program here.
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We provide resources and one-to-one technical assistance to help you educate community members on why testing matters and how they can test themselves for COVID-19. Knowing when to isolate, especially when other vulnerable individuals may be involved, is critical to protecting community health.
The Washington State Department of Health and Heath Commons periodically reviews the contents of WACOVID19.org to keep information content of WACOVID19.org as up to date as possible during guidance changes and program expansion. The content of WACOVID19.org does not necessarily represent the official views of WA State Department of Health.
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