On May 7, in his weekly press briefing, Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin emphasized the importance of building on King County’s progress in vaccinations and bending the curve of the epidemic: 

“Over the past two weeks the increasing rates have leveled off in most ages, except for ages 5-17 and 18-24. And this leveling off in case rates and incidence numbers are hopeful signs, although the immediate direction remains uncertain,” Dr. Duchin said. 

“The COVID 19 outbreak is no longer a five-alarm fire but it continues to burn and has not yet been extinguished. At the moment, new cases of covid-19 can still spark flare-ups that spread among unvaccinated people. We need to continue to fight this fire with multiple strategies: vaccines plus precautions. As more people are vaccinated, particularly young adults, and subsequently adolescents and eventually children, the risk to both individuals and to our community as a whole will continue to decrease.” 

For more on COVID-19 data trends, visit our data dashboards: https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/covid-19/data.aspx

For more on COVID-19 vaccine planning in King County: http://www.kingcounty.gov/covid/vaccine

Originally posted on May 7, 2021