Here are the last 24 hours’ toplines, 23 days after the first King County COVID-19 case was announced:

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From today’s Seattle-King County Public Health news release:

Public Health—Seattle & King County is reporting the following confirmed cases and deaths due to COVID-19 through 11:59 p.m. on 3/21/20.

1,040 confirmed cases (up 106 from yesterday)*
75 confirmed deaths (up 1 from yesterday)

This additional death includes:

A man in his 80s, who died on 3/13 at Overlake Medical Center

Of the 75 deaths reported, 35 are confirmed to be associated with Life Care Center of Kirkland.

For comparison, the numbers one week ago were 420 cases, 37 deaths.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them here.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: Find them here.

PLAY STRUCTURES TAPED: Two days after play structures and sports courts at city and county parks were declared off-limits, local parks started sporting yellow tape.

METRO REDUCTIONS START TOMORROW: We’ll have a detailed update on this within the next hour. But in the short run, remember that Metro is reducing service on most routes and cutting some entirely (West Seattle’s cut routes are the 37 and 125) starting Monday. The transit system already has stopped collecting fares – both Metro and the Water Taxi are free TFN, as are all Sound Transit modes.

ONE WEEK AGO: It’s been exactly a week since the governor ordered more business closures, including telling restaurants and beverage businesses to close except for pickup/delivery services. We’re continuing to update our West Seattle list of who’s open in that mode – whether you’re a businessperson or customer, we appreciate your help with updates – westseattleblog@gmail.com or text/voice 206-293-6302 – thank you! This week we’re also working on updates of businesses in the sectors that were shuttered completely, such as salons and fitness – info appreciated on those too!

TONIGHT’S FINAL WORD … joy. One neigbborhood expressed it in chalk. In another part of West Seattle, someone found it in a solo dance at sunset:

(Thanks to Hoku for the photo.)