Another update today from the Senior Center of West Seattle, looking ahead to next week:

The Senior Center of West Seattle (SCWS) shares your concerns about the rapidly evolving and expanding global novel coronavirus (COVID-19). At this time, there are no cases of COVID-19 at the SCWS, nor any staff with symptoms.

The SCWS will be closed through Friday, March 13th except for the essential programs listed below. We do not have a date that we will be reopening due to these exceptional circumstances and we are following recommendations from the King County Department of Public Health.

SCWS ESSENTIAL PROGRAM UPDATE

Community Dining – starting on Monday, March 9th we will be providing sack lunches to participants 11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Tuesday, March 10th Food Bank Distribution – We will provide prepared bags of food for pick-up starting at 10:00 a.m.

Wednesday, March 11th Meals on Wheels will be delivered as normal.

Social Workers are continuing outreach and will have office hours for individuals as needed.

Tax Help Appointments – will take place on Thursday, March 12th and Friday, March 13th.

Stop and Shop: We will keep the Stop and Shop open as long as we have volunteer coverage. Communications will go out as we know more and if we have to close.

The Washington State Department of Health and Seattle & King County Public Health advise that people at higher risk of severe illness should stay home and away from large public gatherings where there will be close contact with others. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has identified that there is an increased risk of exposure for people with weakened immunity, pregnancy, and those over the age of 60 in large gatherings.

CARE FOR OUR COMMUNITY

As we continue to monitor and respond to the situation, we request your partnership in keeping everyone in the community healthy and minimizing the spread of infectious disease. To facilitate this goal, if you have symptoms of fever, cough, or shortness of breath OR have traveled to a country the CDC has designated with a travel warning level 3 (Mainland China, Iran, South Korea, Italy, and Japan) in the last 14 days, please do not enter the buildings. We recognize that we must each do our part, individually and collectively, to provide the safest possible environment for our PNA community.

Additionally, the SCWS reminds you to exercise caution when reading and using social media responsibly. There is a great deal of misinformation on social media platforms that may alarm or mislead your family or others. You can find accurate, up to date information on webpages set up by the CDC at Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the Washington State Department of Health at Novel Coronavirus Outbreak 2020.

We will continue to communicate frequently about the SCWS response and post updates on our website (www.sc-ws.org) and our phone message 206-932-4044 and westseattleblog.com.

We’ll keep the newest Senior Center update linked on our cancellations, postponements, changes page, too.