COVID deaths double as vaccine delivery nears

OKANOGAN – The second week of December turned out to be a grim benchmark for COVID-19 related deaths in the county as the number of victims who succumbed from the disease more than doubled from 15 to 31 in the space of four days last week.

The spike in deaths came at the North Valley Extended Care facility in Tonasket where 16 patients died according to figures released Dec. 10 on the Okanogan County Public Health (OCPH) website okanogancountycovid19.org.

The website’s updated figures as of Dec. 10 show 1,468 total positive cases including 133 in the past two weeks. Elsewhere in the county the death toll remains in the single digits with Brewster the second highest with eight, followed by Omak with three. Malott, Okanogan, Oroville, and Pateros show one each.

The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) released the following statement in response to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approving emergency use authorization for Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine.

“On behalf of the long-term industry, we welcome the decision by the FDA to approve emergency use authorization to expedite the distribution of a COVID vaccine,” said Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL.

“The delivery of a safe and effective vaccine can’t come soon enough.,” said Parkinson. “More than 100,000 in long term care have died from this virus in the U.S. and our nursing homes are now experiencing the worst outbreak of new cases since last spring with more than 2,000 residents succumbing to this virus each week.” 

North Valley is targeted to receive some of the first shipments of vaccine in the county.

Parkinson said that given the asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic spread of COVID combined with the significant increase of community spread across the U.S., time is of the essence and that vaccines will literally be a lifesaver for thousands of residents.

“A one-month delay in distributing the vaccine to all long-term care residents and caregivers, could result in more than 20,000 of our residents losing their life when a vaccine could protect them,” said Parkinson. “We’re in a life or death race against the clock.”

At press time Lauri Jones, OCPH Community Health Director, was unavailable to comment on whether and when additional vaccine shipments will be distributed through her agency.