The region could see a ‘possible return to normal in a few months’

King County health official Dr Jeff Duchin took on an optimistic tone on Friday, predicting the region could have the worst of the pandemic behind it in months, if not weeks.

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Dr Duchin cited a number of reasons for his positive outlook, including lower case and hospitalization rates, increased vaccine distribution, and an additional single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine that could be approved by the FDA starting early next week. .

“We have many reasons to be encouraged as a community,” he said. “Complacency now would be a major mistake, but we are in a much better situation today than a month ago, and we are getting closer to a possible return to normal in a few months.

“With a few weeks of more serious caution and vigilance, we may be able to put the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us,” he added. “We’re about to put this in the rearview mirror.”

Duchin also touted the fact that last week marked the first time in the entire pandemic that King County has not seen a single new case of COVID-19 at a long-term facility.

In the days to come, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine could prove key to speeding up the county and state’s timeline to end the pandemic. The vaccine passed a major hurdle on Friday, after an FDA panel unanimously recommended it for emergency use.

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The vaccine also has significant advantages over those manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna.

“It’s a very good vaccine,” said Dr Duchin. “It has some very interesting characteristics: it is a single dose, very easy to store, very effective and potentially fewer side effects.”

Even so, he also stressed that people should take any vaccine available and that all three are “very effective” in preventing severe symptoms of COVID-19.

“The real advice is that if there is a vaccine available to you, take it,” he advised. “We can say with great confidence that all of these vaccines provide a very high degree of protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death.”