Correspondent And COVID ‘Long Hauler’ Anna King: As 2021 Rings In, Consider Staying Home

By Anna King
Anna King went to the KADLEC Emergency Room twice during her battle with COVID-19. Once she was having trouble breathing, another time the virus attacked her inner ear, giving her vertigo. CREDIT: Anna King/N3
The first time it happened, it was a squeezing feeling. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. My heart raced. At the hospital, I got an EKG and took a blood test. It wasn’t a heart attack. Just felt like one. Doctors are learning COVID-19 isn’t just a respiratory illness. Some of those who’ve had it, like me, end up with heart inflammation, heart rhythm problems or worse. Read More

President Trump Signs COVID-19 Relief Deal After His Criticism Threatened To Derail It

By NPR News
President Trump, seen here at the White House on Dec. 12, has signed the coronavirus relief package. CREDIT: Al Drago/Getty Images
President Trump on Sunday night signed a massive coronavirus relief and spending package, relenting on a measure he had called a "disgrace" days earlier. The legislation, which combines $900 billion in COVID-19 aid with government funding through September 2021, was passed by large majorities in both houses of Congress on Dec. 21 — only to see Trump blindside legislators Read More

In Rural Idaho, Their Young Son Nearly Died From COVID Complications. Now They Urge Masks

By NWPB News
Cooper Wuthrich rests as he lays on a bed at the truck stop his family partly owns Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Montpelier, Idaho. Shortly after Thanksgiving, Wuthrich, 12, became one of hundreds of children in the U.S. diagnosed with a rare COVID-19 complication that landed him in an emergency room three hours away from his tiny hometown in a secluded Idaho valley. The boy's parents say he nearly died and their terrifying experience shows why people should wear masks in a conservative state where pushback can be fierce. CREDIT: Rick Bowmer
Shortly after Thanksgiving, the boy from a secluded valley in Idaho became one of hundreds of children in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with a rare, extreme immune response to COVID-19 called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Cooper Wuthrich’s fever spiked as his joints and organs became inflamed, including his heart, putting his life at risk, his father said.Read More

Across The Northwest, Teachers, Grocery Workers, Older Adults May Be Next For COVID Vaccine

By Tom Banse
The first shipment of COVID vaccines arriving at the UW Medical Center in Seattle on December 14, 2020. CREDIT: Pool/Courtesy UW Medicine
Western state governors and state health officials are now reviewing a finalized recommendation from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for how to prioritize future vaccination phases. The initial deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines to Oregon, Washington state and Idaho are spoken for — at least well into next month. High-risk health care workers, Read More

COVID Cases At Washington’s Largest Psychiatric Hospital Top 200, As Staff Will Be Laid Off

By NWPB News
File photo. As coronavirus cases top 200 in Washington state's largest psychiatric hospital, officials are implementing new procedures to try to get it under control. Making matters worse, the economic downturn that resulted from the pandemic, and the loss of revenues needed to run state government, is forcing the Department of Health and Human Services to make budget cuts, including layoffs. CREDIT: Ted S. Warren/AP
COVID-19 has hit at least 158 hospital workers since March, which takes them off the schedule and means a lot of overtime for the workers left on the wards. At least 64 patients have tested positive and one has died. Making matters worse, the economic downturn that resulted from the pandemic, and the loss of revenues needed to run state government s forcing the Department Read More

Jay Inslee Urges Washington Schools To Consider Bringing Back More Students

By Doug Nadvornick
Washington Governor Jay Inslee is encouraging schools in low and moderate spread counties to send more students back to school. CREDIT: TVW screenshot
“There really is relatively small additional risk if you have good safety and health protocols," the governor said Wednesday. "We see it as our task to make sure that when our students go back, when our educators go back that we follow these sound practices of health and safety protocols to keep people safe. When we do that, we now have both that scientific data I’ve just Read More

He ‘Left This World In Such Agony’: Rural Health Systems Challenged By COVID Surge

By Anna King
Ken Roberts, left, with his step-sister Debbie Roberts and her husband Steve Kinzie at a Christmas gathering at the Tonasket care facility in 2018. Courtesy of Debbie Roberts
Rural America has been the site COVID hotspots this year: prisons, nursing homes and meat packers. But there are few doctors, ICU beds and little backup when health care workers also get sick. Ken Roberts died Nov. 29, just one person among many who died in an outbreak of COVID-19 at North Valley Extended Care in the Okanogan County town of Tonasket — population about Read More

As Washington COVID Cases Surge, A Chief Medical Officer Prepares Hospitals For The Worst

By Austin Jenkins
At Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, non-urgent surgeries are being cancelled and nurses who don't normally work with patients are being prepared to return to the front lines. The actions come as COVID-19 cases continue to spike.
“Unfortunately, I think within the next week it’s going to be a significant rise in COVID-19,” said Dr. Kevin Caserta, the chief medical officer for Providence SW Washington. Already, the two hospitals Caserta oversees, St. Peter and Providence Centralia, have seen a near doubling of COVID patients over the past six to eight weeks – from roughly 25 to nearly 50 today.Read More

COVID First Hit Long-Term Care In Puget Sound Region. Now It’s Hitting Home In Rural Areas

By Scott Leadingham
Tim Killian, a spokesman for Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., prepares to give a daily briefing to reporters on Wednesday. CREDIT: Ted S. Warren/AP
Some of the hardest hit places have been long-term care facilities in rural areas like Tonasket in Okanogan County, and in central Washington. At least three care facilities in Grant County have reported outbreaks and deaths since a large wedding near Ritzville last month attended by some care facility staff who later tested positive for COVID-19. But a definitive Read More
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