CORONAVIRUS: Thursday 3/12 toplines, from cases to closures, and more…

| Coronavirus | Health | West Seattle news

Another day with a ton of news. Here’s our nightly roundup:

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the once-a-day Seattle-King County Public Health update:

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

270 confirmed cases (up 36 from yesterday)
27 confirmed deaths (up 1 from yesterday)

The one death being reported today is in a man in his 80s. He died at EvergreenHealth on 3/11/20.

Of the 27 deaths reported, 22 are associated with Life Care Center of Kirkland.

ANOTHER WEST SEATTLE CASE: As we reported earlier this evening, families of residents at senior-living complex Bridge Park in High Point have been told it has a COVID-19 case, the second West Seattle case we know of.

TOP HAT QUARANTINE/ISOLATION SITE UPDATE: We reported on partner site White Center Now early today that the county is not expecting to bring anyone to the 206 SW 112th site for at least two weeks.

GOVERNOR ORDERS SCHOOL CLOSURES: This afternoon, another media briefing by Gov. Jay Inslee, this time for the announcement that all K-12 schools in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties must close by next Tuesday, and can’t reopen any sooner than April 27th. Our coverage includes video of the announcement, which also included State Superintendent Chris Reykdal.

SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARIES, PARKS FACILITIES CLOSING: A lot of closures today were attributed to the new “public distancing” rules from SKC Public Health. The biggest: Mayor Jenny Durkan announced tonight that after tomorrow, all Seattle Public Library and Seattle Parks buildings will close until at least Aprll 13th. There are a few program exceptions, so read that announcement carefully.

OTHER CLOSURES: Many announcements today – the Log House Museum is closing; ArtsWest has canceled the production that was supposed to open tonight; Southwest Youth and Family Services is closing; WestSide Baby is suspending normal operations; The Little Gym of West Seattle is closing.

BOOK BUSINESSES: Local businesses are working hard to stay open; today we featured news from West Seattle’s two independent bookstores, including delivery plans. (We would love to hear from many other businesses – email us, westseattleblog@gmail.com – thanks!)

HELP FOR BUSINESSES? The mayor announced details of a fund offering grants to some small businesses

SPEAKING OF HELP: The Highland Park Elementary PTA is doing a very cool thing – distributing food today, and again tomorrow, to anyone in need:

If you need help, go there. If you don’t, consider donating money/food.

WHAT’S CANCELED, POSTPONED, CHANGED LOCALLY: We’re continuing to update our West Seattle list – see it here (it’ll be caught up with today’s many changes shortly). If your organization, business, church, school, group, etc. has cancellations, postponements, changes, PLEASE let us know – westseattleblog@gmail.com or text/voice 206-293-6302.

WSB CONTINUING COVERAGE: All the stories published on WSB related to the COVID-19 situation are categorized so that you can find them anytime at westseattleblog.com/category/coronavirus. We’re also using Twitter (@westseattleblog) for instant bursts. Any local info you’re NOT finding, please let us know so we can try to serve you better.

Dirt Worker March 13, 2020 (1:57 am)

Union guy scheduled to fly home from Maui this weekend from a long overdue vacation. (It’s been perfect!) Should We extend? Not really sure that we should return to King County. It reminds me of an old Alki saying; “West-Side till I perished.” Lol?

global gal March 13, 2020 (9:50 am)

Recommend consulting with your primary care doctor if possible. Advice will likely depend on your age and underlying health condition. My 62-year old husband has been working in the UAE since Feb. 14 and was scheduled to come home today but because he has had major health issues in the past 5 years has been advised to not return to King County for the time being.

JW March 13, 2020 (7:03 am)

Thank you WSB for your up to date coverage

Anonymous Nurse March 13, 2020 (7:20 am)

Cubans are making their own masks. We need to also. See an article here… https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/world/cubans-are-making-coronavirus-masks-from-pants-intl/index.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/03/12/world/cubans-are-making-coronavirus-masks-from-pants-intl/index.htmlYou can wash your hands till they bleed, but as soon as you breathe, little droplets full of virus will contaminate them again. You could be infecting everything around you with every breath, even without symptoms. This is a highly transmissible respiratory disease. Not airborne it seems, but close… droplet. That means there is a little cloud of drops of moisture, from our breaths and coughs, that falls into all the surfaces around us and carries disease if we are infected. We need both hand washing AND masking because people without symptoms spread this when they breathe. They spread it to surfaces by breathing on them, or people, or their hands. It may transmit other ways too of course.

rme March 13, 2020 (2:41 pm)

Curious then why all of the expert advice has been the opposite?

Janelle March 13, 2020 (10:15 am)

I’d rather be in Maui right now! Does that help? Hope you can stay and enjoy a long vacation ;)

WSB, I’ve wondered about the 2 twenty-somethings who were hospitalized in Issaquah last month. Any word if they recovered and were released, or on their status?

WSB March 13, 2020 (10:27 am)

The county stopped days ago releasing any information about individual case status, so unless they themselves or their families have surfaced info somewhere else, no idea. I am doing my best to also monitor regional coverage and haven’t seen/heard anything. – TR
- Janelle March 13, 2020 (10:38 am)
  
  Thank you, I hadn’t seen anything either and wondered if I missed it. Hope they recovered okay. Thanks for all you do and being so on top of everything!

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