A new phase of the pandemic. A lull between waves. A time of reflection.

Scientists, politicians and public health leaders have spent the past few months using these phrases to describe where Washington stands in the battle against COVID-19. Now case rates are increasing once again, despite many people in recent weeks inching — or lunging — back toward pre-pandemic norms.

Public transit is often crowded, restaurants and bars packed again. Last week, a record crowd of more than 68,000 (mostly unmasked) Sounders fans packed into Lumen Field for a championship game.

But shifting public health guidance, the emergence of new variants and continued strain on hospitals has made it difficult for many to gauge their personal and community risk, leaving Washingtonians to wonder: Is this a new phase of the pandemic?

“There’s a lot of uncertainty now,” said Renee Magnan, an associate professor of social and health psychology at Washington State University. “We’ve all heard of pandemic fatigue. People are really tired of having to do the things. … And I can see that there’s frustration with how quickly, in some ways, recommendations have been changing.”

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The Seattle Times

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy may help people being treated for opioid addiction reduce their methadone dose and better manage pain and withdrawal symptoms, according to a pair of studies led by Washington State University scientists.

The idea for the two studies came from earlier research by one of the WSU researchers that showed that hyperbaric oxygen therapy provided pain relief and reduced physical signs of opioid withdrawal in mice.

“We were anxious to see if it would work in people,” said study co-author Raymond Quock, a professor of psychology in the WSU College of Arts and Sciences, who led that work.

If their findings hold up in a larger clinical trial, hyperbaric oxygen therapy could become a non-pharmacological tool that providers can use to help people manage pain and potentially reduce their opioid use.

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WSU Insider
News Medical
SciTechDaily
Medical Dialogues

A small but significant portion of couples contain one partner who is vaccinated against COVID-19 and another partner who is not, a Washington State University survey has found. Reasons for not getting the shot also differed depending on which partner in the couple was reporting it, particularly when it came to religious reasons.

Partners have been shown to have a lot of influence on each other’s health behaviors, said Karen Schmaling, the WSU psychologist who conducted the first known scientific study to look into this issue, detailing the results in the journal Vaccine.

“Vaccines clearly decrease the likelihood of infection and severity of illness, so discordant couples could be a real focus of identification and intervention efforts,” said Schmaling. “The numbers might be small in this study, but in terms of public health—if this translates to about 16% of the U.S. population, that’s a huge number.”

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Medical Xpress
WSU Insider
Koin
Daily Hunt
Lewiston Tribune

People with high levels of trust in government felt more secure in their jobs, had higher employer loyalty and were more likely to go out of their way to help co-workers, according to a recent study.  

“It may come down to what it means psychologically to be able to trust in entities other than yourself, whether that’s the federal or state government, your organization or your supervisor,” said Tahira Probst, a psychology professor at WSU Vancouver and co-author on the study. “It’s these internalized beliefs that another entity cares about my well-being and has good intentions—that kind of trust is crucial to facilitating relationships with other individuals and organizations.”

The researchers say the findings do suggest that the government—and employers—would do well to bolster trust at all levels. One way to do that is to communicate clearly and transparently, Probst said.

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WSU Insider
The Hill