Prevention techniques, treatment helping keep COVID hospitalizations down in WA

COVID-19 continues to spread across Washington, and quickly.

But with prevention techniques like masking, treatment like Paxlovid, and vaccines and boosters, health officials are not concerned yet of hospitals becoming overwhelmed.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have not reached a point yet where hospitals are again struggling to find intensive care unit beds or to deliver normal care, said Dr. Dan Getz, chief medical officer at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

“It’s really a slow rise,” he said. “That’s the whole point of the measures we implemented.”

Those measures include things like getting vaccinated and boosted when eligible. Department of Health officials on Wednesday also recommended masking indoors, though they are not implementing a mask requirement yet.

“This is the time for us to remind ourselves that this pandemic is not over,” said Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah.