正当新冠肺炎(新型冠状病毒肺炎)疫苗在美国各地推广，华盛顿州正遭受第四波感染，40至59岁的人以及许多更年轻的人住院治疗的人数激增。

自3月份以来，病毒病例和住院人数稳步上升，州长杰伊·因斯利(Jay Inslee)上周宣布，该州已进入第四波。4月初，他将三个县退回到重新开放限制的第二阶段。

根据调查，目前，40-59岁的人在医院的病人数量最多，其次是20-39岁的人状态数据显示COVID样疾病住院，不依赖诊断，但监测整体趋势。

伊莱恩·汤普森/美联社档案

注册护士安德拉亚·泽尔在UW医疗中心的科维德重症监护室治疗一名患者

华盛顿温哥华传统鲑鱼溪医疗中心(Legative Salmon Creek Medical Center)药学和临床支持服务主任瑞安·厄勒文(Ryan Erlewine)告诉美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)，没有接种疫苗的“大流行性疲劳”患者可能是导致这一上升的原因。

“40-59岁的大多数人正在住院，他们中的大多数人没有接种疫苗，”他说。

“我们大约是去年12月最高时最高(住院)水平的一半，”他说。“就本地而言，过去一周我们看到病例大幅增加。...这就是我们担心的——不幸的是，根据我们在社区中看到的不断增加的病例总数，我们可能离高峰期还有7到14天。”

据报道，华盛顿州的44家医院共收治了600多名病毒感染者，这是几个月来最多的一次KCPQ上周报道。

该州报告了483名患有COVID样疾病的住院患者，4月25日的住院率为7%。虽然较去年12月13%的峰值有所下降，但仍较2月份的4.2%有所上升。

普罗维登斯医院系统的首席执行官艾米·康普顿·菲利普斯博士说，该系统在太平洋西北部的26家医院的病例数量出现了令人担忧的激增。

“我们看到的有点可怕，”她告诉美国广播公司下属逗号。“与去年4月相比，今年4月我们医院的住院人数增加了约500人，因此我们现在看到的病例实际上比去年4月全球关闭时要多。”

美国广播公司新闻

华盛顿州新冠肺炎医院

在最近的一次新闻发布会上，西雅图国王郡公共卫生官员杰夫·杜钦博士说，与70多岁的人相比，20多岁的新冠肺炎人住院人数激增。

“我们还没有足够的年轻成年人接种疫苗来抵消变异体传播的增加，”杜钦说噪声功率比(noise power ratio)。

Erlewine说，参加聚会的年轻、未接种疫苗的人在最近的激增中发挥了作用。

在华盛顿，16岁及以上的人在4月15日有资格接种疫苗。据统计，到目前为止，只有6%的16至17岁青少年、22%的18至34岁青少年和32%的35至49岁青少年接种了疫苗状态数据。

尔莱温敦促年轻人接种疫苗来保护他们的社区。

“一般来说，年轻人认为他们更加隐形，”他说。“我认为年轻人很难理解你只是没有给自己提供免疫力，你也在阻止别人从你这里获得免疫力。我们真的需要稍微翻转一下剧本，把它想得更无私一点。我们正在为更大的利益而努力。”

保罗·克里斯蒂安·戈登/ZUMA出版社

2021年5月2日，顾客在西雅图巴拉德社区的翁布里亚咖啡馆享受户外用餐。

Inslee周二提供了一个乐观的信息，宣布暂停“两周”，以决定是否有更多的县将逐步减少。

“如果人们继续致力于此，”Inslee说，“有理由相信今年夏天的某个时候我们会有一个更实质性的重新开放。”

Why Washington state is seeing a 4th COVID-19 wave

Even asCOVID-19vaccines are rolled out throughout the U.S., Washington state is reeling from a fourth wave of infections, with hospitalizations surging for people age 40 to 59 -- and among many much younger.

Virus cases and hospitalizations have steadily risen since March, and Gov. Jay Inslee announced last week the state had entered its fourth wave. Earlier in April, he'd rolled back three counties to Phase 2 of reopening restrictions.

Currently, 40-to-59-year-olds account for the highest number of patients in hospitals, followed by 20-to-39-year-olds, according tostate datashowing COVID-like-illness hospitalizations, which don't rely on a diagnosis but monitor overall trends.

Ryan Erlewine, director of pharmacy and clinical support services at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center in Vancouver, Washington, told ABC News that people with "pandemic fatigue" who haven't gotten vaccinated may be contributing to this rise.

"The bulk of those folks that are 40-to-59 that are being hospitalized, most of them are not vaccinated," he said.

"We're about half of what we were at our highest [hospitalization] levels when we had the highest back in December," he said. "Locally, we have seen a large increase in cases over the last week. ... So that is the worry -- we're maybe seven to 14 days out from our peak, unfortunately, based off the increasing case totals we've seen in the community."

More than 600 virus hospitalizations have been reported from Washington state's 44 hospitals -- the most in months, Fox affiliateKCPQreported last week.

The state reported 483 hospitalized patients with COVID-like illness and a hospitalization rate of 7% on April 25. While a major decline from the December peak of 13%, it's still a rise from the 4.2% rate from February.

Dr. Amy Compton Phillips, CEO of the Providence Hospital System, said the system's 26 hospitals in the Pacific Northwest have seen a worrisome spike in caseloads.

"What we're seeing is a little bit scary," she told ABC affiliateKOMO. "We had about 500 more people this April in our hospitals across our footprint than we had last April, so we're actually seeing more cases now than we were last April when the whole world was shut down."

At a recent press briefing, Seattle King County Public Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin said there's a surge of people in their 20s being hospitalized with COVID-19 compared with those in their 70s.

"We don't yet have enough younger adults vaccinated to counteract the increased ease with which the variants spread," Duchin toldNPR.

Erlewine said that young, unvaccinated people attending gatherings has played a role in the most recent surge.

In Washington, those 16 and older became eligible for the vaccine on April 15. So far, just 6% of 16-to-17-year-olds, 22% of 18-to-34-year-olds and 32% of 35-to-49-year-olds are fully vaccinated, according tostate data.

Erlewine is urging young people to get the vaccine to protect their community.

"Younger people in general think they're a little bit more invisible," he said. "I think it's hard for younger people to understand that you're just not providing yourself with immunity, you're preventing others from getting it from you as well. We really need to flip the script a bit and think of it more as being a little bit selfless. We're doing something for the greater good."

Inslee on Tuesday offered an optimistic message, announcing a "two-week pause" on deciding whether additional counties would phase down.

"If people remain committed to this," Inslee said, "there's a reason to believe that some time this summer we will have a more substantial reopening."