CORONAVIRUS: Saturday 3/28 roundup, with a new ‘health order’

29 days after the first COVID-19 case was reported in King County, here’s our nightly roundup:

NEW HEALTH ORDER: Public Health – Seattle & King County’s Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin issued the “Quarantine Directive and Isolation Order” today. Read it here (PDF). The announcemnt summarizes it this way:

To protect the public, if an individual with active COVID-19 is not voluntarily remaining isolated, or if an individual who has COVID-19 symptoms (fever, cough, and/or difficulty breathing) with a test pending is not remaining self-quarantined, they may be subject to enforcement actions, which could include legal actions for involuntary detention.

Even with that, Dr. Duchin says that “we cannot stop the outbreak completely and our community will likely remain at risk for months to come.”

NEW KING COUNTY NUMBERS: The order was announced along with today’s numbers, in the daily Public Health news release, which reported:

2,077 confirmed positive cases (up 249 from yesterday)

136 confirmed deaths (up 11 from yesterday)

That compares to 934 confirmed cases and 74 deaths one week ago.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: 4,310 cases, 189 deaths; other state stats here.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: See them – nation by nation – here.

GOING BEYOND THE OFFICIAL NUMBERS: Two West Seattle women started a grass-roots effort to map how many people are symptomatic, given that testing still isn’t widely available.

(Governor’s Office photo via Twitter)

LEADERS HAIL HOSPITAL: Elected officials including Gov. Jay Inslee, US Rep. Pramila Jayapal, County Executive Dow Constantine, and Mayor Jenny Durkan gathered at CenturyLink Field today – appropriately distanced – to hail the U.S. Army‘s arrival to set up a field hospital.

The hospital is meant to handle non-COVID-19 patients so that the city’s permanent health-care facilities can handle the expected crush. “We had a lot of rumors about, ‘are the military taking over Seattle?’,” said the mayor.”The answer is no – they are here to help.” P.S. After the speeches, the Q&A covered a lot of ground not-related to the hospital. Most notably, the governor said he saw too many people traveling on I-5 as he headed to Seattle – he implored more people to stay home.

GOVERNOR’S CLARIFICATIONS: Since the stay-home order took effect Thursday, the governor’s office has issued some clarifications about what it means for several industries. Today – here’s what it means for real estate and funerals (plus there’s a message for tribes). Earlier this week, a clarification about construction was issued.

HYGIENE STATION ARRIVES: One day after the announcement, we found the city-placed “hygiene station” at Westcrest Park.

FOOD AND BEVERAGE BUSINESSES: We’re still updating the restaurant/beverage-business list – including this closure announcement today – and the grocery-store hours list (with a lively round of discussion).

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3 Replies to "CORONAVIRUS: Saturday 3/28 roundup, with a new 'health order'"

  • Anon March 29, 2020 (10:00 am)

    Numbers… King County 13.2% positive tests, small increase. Expect deaths to rise next week and week following. Most deaths are in week 3-4. Keep sheltering, stop the spread.

  • nonni March 30, 2020 (11:40 am)

    Will violators who don’t comply with self quarantine be placed under house arrest?

    • WSB March 30, 2020 (12:13 pm)

      There was no elaboration on “involuntary detention.”

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