by Vee Hua 華婷婷
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a directive last Thursday outlining that fall 2024—2025 COVID-19 booster shots should target the KP.2 variant of the virus. The FDA's shift to focus on the KP.2 variant differs from the JN.1 variant that other recent vaccines have been focused on, even as the FDA's own advisers and the World Health Organization have advised that focusing on the JN.1 strain is preferable.
Meanwhile, on June 17, The Seattle Times said a summer COVID-19 surge is on its way as peak travel season approaches, citing steadily increasing infection rates and emergency room visits seen in King County from an all-time low registered in late April.
"This is the time when people should start taking precautions," said Dr. Eric Chow, King County's chief of communicable diseases. "I don't know how high this [peak] is going to be, when it's going to peak, but taking precautions now is the best way for people to be able to mitigate the complications related to COVID."
Two of the three major vaccine companies — Moderna and Novavax — have already submitted their applications to create fall 2024 vaccines focused on the JN.1 strain. According to Reuters, Pfizer and Moderna will shift gears to vaccines that might target either JN.1 or KP.2 variants. Their vaccines rely on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, which allows vaccines to be created more quickly than traditional vaccines. By contrast, Novavax uses traditional vaccine technologies and has already stated that it will not be able to change its manufacturing; it remains on schedule to release its JN.1 strain vaccine by mid-July.
The FDA's recommendation anticipates that dominant strains will change by fall. As reported by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, "At the end of March, the KP.2 variant was causing about 4% of infections in the U.S., according to the CDC, while its parental strain, JN.1, was causing over 50% of infections at that time. As of early May, KP.2 makes up about 28% of infections, overtaking JN.1 as the dominant variant."
Both variants have similar symptoms. The fall boosters will be recommended for ongoing protection from the COVID-19 virus, though previous vaccinations will also continue to provide some protection.
King County updates its data about COVID-19 infections every week. Presently, the average number of infections falls beneath the 3% alert threshold, with about 1.5% for COVID-19 detected among emergency department visits, or 228 out of 15,656 visits a week. The numbers, however, may fall short of catching the entire population that is infected by COVID-19 in any given week, as self-tested cases may not be reported to the County. These numbers are on par with the number of infections during the same time last year.
Since 1992, FareStart has provided food, life skills, and job-training opportunities for homeless individuals to gain empowerment skills that will move them out of poverty. FareStart's job-training programs have served over 14,000 youth and adults, and since its start, it has provided over 19 million meals to local nonprofits, shelters, day care centers, schools, and other community spaces.
Among the most visible of FareStart's services are the FareStart Cafs, located in South Lake Union at Amazon's Houdini North Building and Beacon Hill at the base of the Pacific Tower building, which provide coffee and quick meals. FareStart's flagship restaurant, located downtown, has been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic but anticipates reopening in early July with counter-service breakfast and lunch.
Kicking off the reopenings at the flagship restaurant are a number of Guest Chef Nights featuring top local chefs who will work with volunteer community members to serve a three-course meal. Tickets for each meal are $50, with all profits and donations benefiting the nonprofit's job training and placement programs. The upcoming calendar is as follows:
Not all tickets are available yet, but they will be available on the FareStart website as they are released. The flagship restaurant is located downtown at 700 Virginia St. and is also available for private events.
Scandiuzzi Krebs, a local nonprofit consulting and accounting organization, has returned with its annual round of funding for arts and culture organizations based in Washington State. The funds are available for organizations with budgets under $250,000 and come in the form of general operating support.
Multiple grants are available for amounts ranging from $2,000 to $4,000, and applications are due by Aug. 12. Eligible organizations include nonprofits, fiscally sponsored entities, and for-profit organizations, though all for-profit organizations must be community-building organizations that are BIPOC-owned and can demonstrate that they are doing social good.
Vee Hua 華婷婷 (they/them) is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer with semi-nomadic tendencies. Much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They are the editor-in-chief of REDEFINE, a long-time member of the Seattle Arts Commission, and a film educator at the interdisciplinary community hub, Northwest Film Forum, where they previously served as executive director and played a key role in making the space more welcoming and accessible for diverse audiences. After a recent stint as the interim managing editor at South Seattle Emerald, they are moving into production on their feature film, Reckless Spirits, which is a metaphysical, multilingual POC buddy comedy. They have a master's in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship under the American Indian Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.
📸 Featured Image: Photo via Daniel Chetroni/Shutterstock.com
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