We start tonight’s roundup with a look ahead to tomorrow:
GOVERNOR PLANS ANNOUNCEMENT: According to a media advisory we received, Gov. Jay Inslee will be in Seattle tomorrow for a 10:15 am announcement with the King, Snohomish, and Pierce County executives and Seattle, Tacoma, and Everett mayors. The advisory says they’ll “announce new community strategies and social distancing plans to contain COVID-19.” It will be streamed at this link (we’ll also embed that for live coverage here on WSB). Regional outlets say the announcement will include a ban on events bringing 250+ people together.
TODAY’S KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the daily 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 3/9/20
190 confirmed cases (up 74 from yesterday)
22 confirmed deaths (up 2 from yesterday)The two deaths being reported today include:
A woman in her 80s, a resident of Issaquah Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, was hospitalized at Swedish Issaquah, and died on 3/8/20. (This case was previously reported as a positive case on 3/7/20, in an earlier case count.)
A male in his 80s, a resident of Ida Culver House, was hospitalized at University of Washington Medical Center, and died on 3/9/20. (This case was previously reported as a positive case on 3/6/20, in an earlier case count.)
Of the 22 deaths reported, 19 are associated with Life Care Center.
FOR STATEWIDE NUMBERS … go here.
FOR A WORLDWIDE LOOK … go here.
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: First SPS school with a confirmed case is Aki Kurose Middle School (not in West Seattle). Here’s the SPS news release (PDF), which notes, “There are no other known cases of positive test results at Aki Kurose Middle School or any other SPS school or facility.” Meantime, a parent tipped us that the inTandem program at the old Roxhill building (30th/Roxbury) will be closed tomorrow – here’s the notice (PDF), which says, “Today almost half of our students and twenty-percent of our staff were absent or presenting with cold and influenza. For these reasons we have decided to close the program tomorrow, March 11.” We asked SPS if any other programs in that building are affected; no word yet.
WESTSIDE SCHOOL CLOSING AS A PRECAUTION: The first major independent-school closure announced in West Seattle is Westside School (WSB sponsor) in Arbor Heights, which will close its campus starting Thursday – here’s how that was announced today.
LITTLE PILGRIM PRESCHOOL CLOSED AS A PRECAUTION: The preschool at Fauntleroy UCC has closed as a precaution, too; here’s that announcement.
THE KENNEY RESTRICTS VISITORS: This too is a precautionary move, announced today
SUPPORTING LOCAL BUSINESSES: Here’s our story about how businesses in The Junction are responding. Meantime, the city has announced an “initial package” it hopes will help small businesses stay afloat despite the loss of revenue.
NO UTILITY SHUTOFFS: The city also has announced it won’t shut off electricity, water, or sewer services during the civil emergency – details here.
BIKE-RIDE FOLLOWUP: As noted Monday, West Seattleite Kevin Freitas is launching a daily 4 pm bike ride. He tweeted from the first one:
Had fun with some neighbor friends I knew and some new on a bike “commute” ride this afternoon for those of us in West #Seattle working from home. #seabikes #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/9CLQxsL06E
— Kevin Freitas (@kevinfreitas) March 11, 2020
WHAT’S CANCELED, POSTPONED, CHANGED LOCALLY: We’re continuing to update our West Seattle list – see it here. 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: Everything we publish related to the COVID-19 situation 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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