COVID email alert for May 19, 2023

King County, Washington sent this bulletin at 05/19/2023 02:11 PM PDT

On May 11, 2023 the Federal Public Health Emergency Declaration for COVID-19 ended. The expiration of the emergency declaration does not mean that the pandemic is over as COVID-19 continues to circulate in our communities and people continue to die from it, especially among those at high risk. The end of emergency declaration reduces the flexibility government agencies have for some COVID-19 efforts.

We are taking this opportunity to share some of our recent blogs about the changes and reiterate current resources. Thank you in advance for helping us keep our community informed, safe and healthy.

We will continue to share updates with this COVID alert list on an ad-hoc and as needed basis.

Sincerely,

Public Health - Seattle & King County

The Federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration ends May 11, 2023. What does this mean for you?

When the COVID-19 pandemic first began here in the US, the federal government put in place special emergency declarations that allowed them to rapidly respond to the spread of COVID-19 as well as addressing financial barriers to COVID-19-related care. On May 11, 2023, the Federal Public Health Emergency Declaration ended.

How to keep Medicaid Apple Health insurance as policies change.

Person sits with two children at a computer

Thousands of people who have health insurance through Medicaid (also known as Apple Health, in Washington) risk losing coverage in coming months. Along with our partners in the community, we are leading an effort to help them take action in time.

We’ve updated our COVID-19 vaccination outcomes data.

Person receiving COVID-19 vaccine.

Since 2020, we have provided regular updates to our COVID-19 dashboards. These dashboards highlight the most relevant and useful information as the pandemic evolves. We’ve upgraded the Current COVID-19 Metrics and the COVID-19 Trends pages. With these new charts, our goal is to make it easier to find and understand the current data on Outcomes by Vaccination Status. We’ve streamlined the new Metrics and Trends charts so they are easier to read. The charts also report on more relevant vaccination categories, time periods, and age groups.

CDC COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations

Everyone aged 6 years and older should get 1 updated Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to be considered up to date.

Some people may get additional COVID-19 boosters:

People aged 65 years and older may get 1 additional COVID-19 updated (bivalent) booster dose 4 or more months after the 1st COVID-19 updated (bivalent) vaccine
People who are moderately to severely immunocompromised may get 1 additional COVID-19 updated (bivalent) booster dose 2 or more months after the 1st COVID-19 updated (bivalent) vaccine

Children aged 6 months to 5 years old may need multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be up to date, including at least 1 updated dose of Pfizer or Moderna. It depends on the number of doses they've previously received at their age.

Please check with a healthcare provider if you have questions about how many doses you need.

The COVID-19 updated (bivalent) vaccines target Omicron variants that continue to circulate in our communities. The vaccine also targets the original strain of the COVID virus. People who stay up to date with all recommended vaccine doses have the best protection against severe COVID-19.

New vaccine resource for children, caregivers and parents

Ultimate Germ Fighter

We created an illustrated activity book, Ultra Germ Fighters, for children ages 8 and younger to help provide information for local children, caregivers and parents about getting vaccinated in King County. Available in 9 languages.

New videos about COVID-19 boosters for older adults

In these three new videos (English and Spanish) we encourage older adults to get the updated (bivalent) COVID-19 booster. Pease share with the people age 50+ in your life who haven't gotten their booster. Adults age 50 and older are at higher risk for hospitalization, long-term symptoms (long COVID) and death if they get sick with COVID-19. More information: kingcounty.gov/vaccine.

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