Health and Safety

Many families and providers are wondering what precautions to take before sending kids back to sports after a COVID-19 infection. Using guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American Heart Association (AHA), cardiologists at Seattle Children’s created the proposed protocol to guide PCPs in safely returning kids to sports after infection. It was presented in our July CME, “Return to Sports After COVID-19, Plus Updates on Post-Vaccine Perimyocarditis,” along with information about COVID’s impact on heart function and information about why the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of post-vaccine myopericarditis.

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As of September 1, 2021:

• Early Administration of Synagis (palivizumab) This Year Is Under Consideration
• Seattle Children’s Is Providing Third Doses of Vaccine to Qualified Individual
• Surging Hospital Occupancy at Seattle Children’s and in Our Region 
• COVID-19 Testing and Vaccination as of Tuesday, August 31, 2021
• Be Proactive to Vaccinate Your Patients: Join POP

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The return to school and in-person learning is likely to bring up a variety of emotions for children and families. Here are some resources for supporting children’s mental health as back-to-school season arrives.

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COVID-19 Testing and Vaccination as of July 30, 2021:

• Patients tested for COVID-19: 41,809
  • Positive (detected plus inconclusive): 1,193 (2.9%)
  • Negative: 40,616 (97.1%)
• Vaccine doses administered: 53,411

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Dismantling overpolicing and systems that may result in overpolicing of people of color at Seattle Children’s is critical to protecting the health and safety and minimizing trauma for Black, Indigenous and People of Color patients, families and communities. It’s one of the five pillars of our Anti-Racism Organizational Change and Accelerated EDI Plan.

Following the work in April 2021 of a multidisciplinary group that examined how Seattle Children’s engages with law enforcement, a policy has been created to guide workforce members on how and when to appropriately engage law enforcement at Seattle Children’s. Over the coming months, our related policies will be updated and our teams will receive training.

The official Seattle Children’s App is now available in English and Spanish. The app, created by Seattle Children’s, helps families quickly connect to MyChart, find and contact services to support their child and family, access our interpreter services, and use turn-by-turn directions to navigate the hospital.

Families can download the app today from the Apple App or Google Play stores.

When referring your patients to Seattle Children’s, please share this information by giving them our family flyer about the new app (Spanish version).

• The hospital campus COVID-19 vaccine clinic is now open Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., due to reduced demand.
• Up to three caregivers can now be designated as eligible visitors for each inpatient (up from two).
• Important note: we are still only allowing TWO caregivers to visit at a time.
• Parents/caregivers who are fully vaccinated no longer need to be tested prior to their child being admitted to a double room.

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Public Health Seattle-King County is partnering with community providers to deliver in-home COVID-19 vaccination to residents aged 12 and older who are homebound due to injury, illness, age, developmental, behavioral or psychiatric disorder. Formal or informal caregivers can receive vaccine at the same time. (Please note that this is not appropriate for patients who simply lack transportation to a vaccine site.)

To refer patients:

1. If you have a number of patients to refer, please contact Caren Goldenberg, Homebound Vaccination Program Lead, at cgoldenberg@kingcounty.govor 206-477-3207.
2. If you would like to refer just one or two patients, please use this secure link: https://redcap.link/WA_HomeBasedVax.
3. If you know of patients or family members who would prefer to refer themselves, please encourage them to call King County’s COVID-19 Public Information Line at 206-296-4774.

For more information: Contact Caren Goldenberg, Homebound Vaccination Program Lead, at cgoldenberg@kingcounty.gov or 206-477-3207.

As of Thursday, May 13, 2021, Seattle Children’s is offering appointments for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to youth ages 12 to 15, in keeping with FDA and CDC guidance on lowering the age limit for the Pfizer vaccine.

Any individual wishing to make a vaccine appointment at Seattle Children’s must use our scheduling portal. Youth under age 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian to sign the consent at both the first and second dose appointments. They do not need to be a current Seattle Children’s patient to schedule a vaccine appointment.

Vaccine appointments can also be made through the Washington State vaccine locator. Please direct any questions about COVID-19 vaccines at Seattle Children’s to COVIDCommunitySupport@seattlechildrens.org.

A new algorithm helps PCPs know where to refer patients for concussion at Seattle Children’s.

• Neurology sees patients who have had ongoing headache for over two months, in the absence of a sports injury.
• Sports Medicine sees patients who experienced a sports injury concussion, are at least 6 years old and have not experienced any of the following: hospitalization for more than 24 hours, skull fracture, intracranial hemorrhage, focal neurological deficit or neurosurgery/brain surgery of any kind in the past.
• Rehabilitation Medicine sees all other concussion patients.

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