Our nightly roundup of local (mostly, this time) info related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak:

KING COUNTY NUMBERS UPDATE: From the daily Seattle-King County Public Health update:

12 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported to Public Health – Seattle & King County through 11:59 p.m. on 3/7/20, bringing the total number of reported King County cases to 83.

Of the 12 new cases reported today, two are deaths. The total number of deaths reported to Public Health is now 17. The two deaths being reported today include:

A woman in her 80s, a Life Care Center resident, was hospitalized at EvergreenHealth, and who died on 3/6/20
A man in his 90s, a Life Care Center resident, was hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center, and who died 3/5/20

Of the 17 deaths reported, 16 are associated with Life Care Center.

NEW FORMAT FOR DAILY STATEWIDE REPORTS: As mentioned last night, the state changed the time and format for its daily reports (which are always at this link). Now it’s including the breakdown by age groups among confirmed COVID-19 cases among other stats – here are screengrabs from today’s report:

Again, those are STATEWIDE numbers. We have generally been just publishing the King County numbers in this nightly report, but with the format change, the statewide report seemed worth a closer look tonight.

LOOKING FOR A WORLDWIDE OVERVIEW? Try the Johns Hopkins-produced dashboard.

CRUISE CONCERNS + WHAT WE DISCOVERED ABOUT ONE QUARANTINED SHIP: With Seattle a major, albeit seasonal, cruise-ship hub, it’s worth noting that the State Department tweeted today that Americans should avoid cruising because of the coronavirus outbreak:

The cruise season in Seattle is scheduled to start April 1st – and when we looked up the schedule (PDF) tonight, we discovered that the first ship scheduled to call here is Grand Princess, currently dealing with a COVID-19 crisis. Grand Princess’s scheduled stop is its only Seattle visit on the schedule; it’s not listed as one of the ships slated to be based from here this season. But we’ll be following up tomorrow with the cruise line and the Port of Seattle.

(Port of Seattle photo, October 2019)

Added: Grand Princess also was the last cruise ship to stop in Seattle last year. 2nd addition: Here’s a comment from the port:

We appreciate the work of the federal government and cruise lines to institute new protocols related to cruise passenger safety and health. This is a rapidly developing situation and we are in daily contact with federal and local officials.

The safety, health, and well-being of cruise passengers, employees, community, and first responders always comes first. Therefore, we are actively reviewing multiple options about the launch of the 2020 cruise season with our cruise operators, the United States Coast Guard, public health authorities, and local leaders. We are using the time before cruise season starts to closely coordinate with our partners. We will report back to the public soon with further information about our upcoming plans for the season.

SOUTH SEATTLE COLLEGE REMINDER: In case you missed the Saturday announcement, a reminder – South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) is ceasing most in-person classes and moving to “alternative modes of instruction” for the rest of winter quarter starting Tuesday, after taking tomorrow to plan and communicate. SSC’s updates are here.

GLOBAL READING CHALLENGE: With Seattle Public Library events canceled – though the facilities remain open – that mean the Global Reading Challenge semifinals, set to start continuing tomorrow morning, are going “virtual.”

WHAT’S CANCELED, POSTPONED, CHANGED LOCALLY: We’re keeping a 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.

Here’s our nightly roundup of local info:

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From today’s official Seattle-King County Public Health announcement:

13 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported to Public Health – Seattle & King County through 11:59 p.m. on 3/6/20, bringing the total number of reported King County cases to 71.

Of the 13 new cases reported today, two are deaths. In addition, two cases previously reported last week are people who have now died. The total number of deaths reported to Public Health is now 15. The four deaths being reported today include:

A man in his 70s, a Life Care Center resident, was hospitalized at EvergreenHealth, and who died on 3/2/20. This case is included in the 13 new cases being reported today.

A woman in her 80s, a Life Care Center resident, was hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center, and who died 3/5/20. This case is included in the 13 new cases being reported today.

A woman in her 70s, a Life Care Center resident, was hospitalized at EvergreenHealth, and who died on 3/6/20. This case was previously reported on 3/5/20.

A woman in her 80s, a Life Care Center resident, was hospitalized at EvergreenHealth, and who died on 3/6/20. This case was previously reported on 3/2/20.
Of the 15 deaths reported, 14 are associated with Life Care Center.

If you are interested in statewide numbers/info, see the Washington Department of Health COVID-19 page. (Added: The DOH announced tonight that the time and format of its daily statewide reports will change starting tomorrow.)

‘ALTERNATIVE MODES OF INSTRUCTION’ AT SOUTH SEATTLE COLLEGE: The Seattle Colleges, including South Seattle College (WSB sponsor), whose main campus is on Puget Ridge, announced this morning that they are moving to “alternative modes of instruuction” for the rest of the winter quarter. “Classroom and instructional staff will make local decisions about which modes to employ for each particular course,” says the announcment, so wait to hear from faculty.

CHANGES FOR CHURCHES: Some are canceling services. Some are going online. Some are already there. Here’s our roundup.

FARMERS’ MARKET IS ON TOMORROW: Here’s the story we published Friday with market managers explaining why they ARE going ahead with West Seattle and other markets.

REVIEW THE RECOMMENDATIONS: SKCPH’s guidance on how to protect yourself and others is here.

WHAT’S BEING CANCELED, POSTPONED, CHANGED: Our West Seattle list continues growing – 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 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.

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.