SEATTLE — As the omicron variant surges in Seattle and other major cities across the U.S., Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is using her final days in office to help battle the latest threat in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The city’s testing efforts are expanding with more locations and available hours so residents can more easily find out if they contracted COVID-19.
The West Seattle and Rainier Beach clinics are going to continue providing COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots through the end of the year.
The latest data shows Seattle’s vaccination rate is currently 90%. About 45% of eligible residents have received their booster vaccinations.
King County Health officials revealed Friday how quickly the omicron variant is overtaking delta as the dominant strain of the coronavirus in the region.
According to the data, omicron cases are at least doubling every 72 hours throughout the county.
The latest modeling projects King County could see more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases per day due to the variant, which is about three times higher than the peak of the delta variant in August.
It remains unclear how bad omicron will be, especially with the city’s and region’s high vaccination rate.
Meanwhile, Durkan will be leaving office in January, making way for Mayor-elect Bruce Harrell.