Exactly one week ago tonight, we got word of the first confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in King County. Here are today’s key local developments:
NEW KING COUNTY CASES: From the daily Seattle-King County Public Health update:
7 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported to Public Health – Seattle & King County through 11:59 p.m. on 3/5/20, bringing the total number of reported King County cases to 58.
In addition, a person who was previously reported, a male in his 60s, has now died. He was not a resident of Life Care Center of Kirkland, but was a visitor. He died on 3/5/20. The total number of deaths in King County reported to Public Health is 11.
Of the 58 cases, 34 are residents of or associated with Life Care Center of Kirkland. Eighteen are residents, six are staff, and 10 are visitors or family members. Of the 11 deaths reported, ten are associated with Life Care Center.
The county is no longer providing case-by-case info, except for deaths. To our knowledge, no cases to date have West Seattle links.
BRIEFING: No SKCPH-focused briefing today, but Gov. Jay Inslee, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and most of our state’s U.S. House delegation held a briefing this morning, mostly to talk about funding for the crisis response (though there also was discussion of the Kirkland Life Care Center situation). Here’s the video:
The federal aid will include loans for small businesses sent reeling by effects of the crisis.
LIBRARY CHANGES: While Seattle Public Library facilities remain open, SPL has canceled all events and programs for the rest of the month. Here’s the announcement made late today. The message on the SPL website says:
Due to current guidance from public health officials and in the interest of protecting the high-risk populations we serve and the high-risk populations who volunteer for us, the Library is canceling all programs, events, meeting room bookings, outreach activities and Bookmobile services during the month of March. At this time, all physical Library locations continue to operate with standard hours.
The King County Library System – which has a nearby branch in White Center – is doing the same.
SENIOR CENTER OF WEST SEATTLE CHANGES: Again today, the Senior Center of West Seattle issued an operational update, focusing on how it will handle “essential programs” next week. Read the update here.
NEW INFO ABOUT TOP HAT QUARANTINE FACILITY: We covered an hourlong telephone briefing today about the King County plan for a quarantine facility at 206 SW 112th in Top Hat (east of White Center), first announced Tuesday. New details emerged regarding how it will be managed and who it’s for; the call also included some strong words of opposition from community members. See our report here.
SCHOOLS: Seattle Public Schools remain open, though – as noted last night – they’ve canceled some events/programs. This statement is part of tonight’s daily update from SPS:
On March 5, Public Health Seattle and King County provided revised guidance to reduce exposure to COVID-19 in the general population. Public Health is recommending, but not requiring, that people who are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 stay home and away from large groups of people. People at higher risk, according to Public Health, include those who are 60 years and older; people who are pregnant; people with weakened/compromised immune systems or underlying health conditions, such as heart disease, lung disease, or diabetes.
How does this “at risk” population guidance effect Seattle Public Schools?
The health of our staff matters to us. Seattle Public Schools has close to 11,000 part-time and full-time employees, and some who meet the “at risk” criteria. In our effort to help disrupt the spread of COVID-19 and protect our staff and students, these employees, with required documentation, may need to stay home.
Our goal is to keep our doors open as long as possible, while prioritizing the health and safety of our students. With that said, we are tracking staff and student attendance daily. In order to keep schools open we need to have enough staff to provide a safe learning environment for students. We also want to make sure that staff who need to self-quarantine because of high risk or illness take time off. We have canceled all events, workshops, field trips, etc. that require a substitute teacher and deployed our certified central office staff, an estimated 100 educators, to support in our 104 schools.
While some universities elsewhere in Seattle are going online for the rest of the quarter, South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) in West Seattle is continuing classes – here’s the daily update for SSC and its sibling colleges.
WHAT’S BEING CANCELED, POSTPONED, CHANGED: Our West Seattle list continues to grow – see it here. If your organization, business, school, group, etc. has cancellations, postponements, changes, please let us know – westseattleblog@gmail.com or text/voice 206-293-6302.
WSB CONTINUING COVERAGE: Whatever we publish related to all this is categorized so that you can find it anytime at westseattleblog.com/category/coronavirus. We’re also using Twitter (@westseattleblog) for instant bursts.
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