CORONAVIRUS: Thursday 4/9 roundup

| Coronavirus | West Seattle news

Elected officials are doing everything short of skywriting STAY HOME, so the latest order tops tonight’s roundup:

PARK CLOSURES THIS WEEKEND: The city is closing major parks from 11 pm Friday to 4:30 am Monday, including Alki Beach, Lincoln Park, and West Seattle Stadium. The announcement also notes, “Next week, the City is evaluating and implementing a park by park plan to ensure residents can safely utilize larger regional parks when they reopen.” “Neghborhood parks,” the city says, will remain open for you to use “if necessary.”

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

3,886 confirmed positive cases (up 198* from yesterday)

258 confirmed deaths (up 14 from yesterday)

* The “new confirmed positive cases” figure we publish each day represents all new confirmed cases reported to us through 11:59 the night prior. Some of these test results were processed on days prior but were delayed in being reported to us.

One week ago, the totals for King County were 2,656 cases, 175 deaths. Checking the county’s data dashboard, no newly reported deaths in our area.

STATE NUMBERS … are here.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS … are here.

ONE MORE PARKS NOTE: Seattle Parks has canceled the rest of its spring programs, The announcement includes this note:

Registration for summer programs (May 5) and camps (May 12) is still planned, though subject to change if stay-at-home orders continue beyond the current time frame.

WHAT THE GOVERNOR SAID TODAY: His latest media briefing was mostly about the Monroe prison uprising. See the briefing video here.

NOT HAPPENING: More late spring/early summer event cancellations … tonight the West Seattle 5K and West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, both originally scheduled for mid-May. Even if the stay-home order ends May 4th as currently scheduled, the current thinking is that events will be at the very least unwise, if not illegal, for months more. Hoping for a healthy 2021!

MAKING LIFE BEAR-ABLE: We’ve previously featured neighbors’ window displays of teddy bears, and still receive occasional photos. This one from 44th/Holgate today made us smile:

GOT INFO? westseattleblog@gmail.com or text/voice 206-293-6302 – thank you!

Pilsner April 9, 2020 (9:55 pm)

Pretty calm night, I like it. Although I am now thinking about how busy everything will be when the tides before us turn back on ourselves.

jissy April 9, 2020 (10:24 pm)

Hmmmm, Mayor Durkan declared on 3/11/2020 that if we didn’t make any changes we’d see 25,000 cases of COVID-19 in Washington state and 400 deaths by April 7, 2020. Looks like we’ve made some good changes based on today’s numbers, albeit the number of deaths is a bit over (I can’t find the exact numbers for April 7th).

WSB April 9, 2020 (11:09 pm)

We have the numbers in the roundup every night so if you search the site on the word roundup that would come up
https://westseattleblog.com/2020/04/coronavirus-tuesday-4-7-roundup/
Greg April 10, 2020 (12:09 am)

Jissy, Dig in. Who You listening? You dig in too. Better you dig in and not need it… GL. Good Luck. My family, We will all come together next summer. Gn
chemist April 10, 2020 (1:32 am)

I’m liking the trending down, but cases vs lab confirmed cases are very different with limited access to testing. There could well be 25,000 cases in WA but only the 9,600 are confirmed via lab test at this time (others being asymptomatic/presumed positive and recovering on their own). Currently only ~10% of tests being run are coming back positive and only 88,000 tests have been run according to the state website. With those sort of trends based on current test guidelines and rationing, you’d need to run ~3x as many tests if you expected to lab-confirm 25,000

J April 10, 2020 (7:57 am)

FYI- Russia announced yesterday that it was getting a sensitivity of 70-80% on its PCR tests. That means 20-30% false negatives from the swab testing. And they announced they would stop using them because practically all pneumonias now are COVID19 now, and would all be treated as such in full protective gear. I hope we are testing all pneumonias for COVID19 with PCR and antigen/antibody blood work as backup right now.

David Partikian April 10, 2020 (8:22 am)

So Alki will be closed to residents who live on Alki?

WSB April 10, 2020 (8:52 am)

Yes, there is no residency exception.
- Treehugger April 10, 2020 (10:02 am)
  
  What are the boundaries of Alki Beach? From Salty’s west to end of promenade? Don Armeni boat ramp will be closed. Will the Alki trail be closed from Spokane St to Alki Beach?

BlairJ April 10, 2020 (9:39 am)

Is the sidewalk along the water side of Alki Avenue closed also?

WSB April 10, 2020 (9:59 am)

The sidewalk isn’t part of the park, so it shouldn’t be. (assuming you mean the sidewalk along the street, not the promenade north of Alki Bathhouse right on the water).

anonyme April 10, 2020 (10:54 am)

Maybe it’s my imagination, but it seems like people are beginning to flaunt the distancing rules a little more each day. Perhaps I should say “guidelines”, not “rules”, as some people seem to be allergic to the word – hence the problem. I really hate it when people run right up on me, huffing, puffing, and sweating, even though there’s tons of open space for avoidance, and I’m obviously a senior walking with a cane. It seems deliberate. If you’re unwilling to distance yourselves my cane just might do it for you.

WSlite April 10, 2020 (11:19 am)

Sorry to hear that Anonyme. Push them away with your cane, they should know better. When I walk my dog, I often cross the street if I see someone coming my way. And if someone is coming from behind up close, they better keep their distance or will hear words from me. If I catch them coming from behind, I move out of the way if I don’t see them distancing themselves too. People should definitely be respecting elderly and making it a point to move a far distance away from them. Shame on them. Take care and be safe Anonyme.
LK April 10, 2020 (11:49 am)

I’m really sorry to hear that is happening to you. I have also had people get too close and it’s ALWAYS people my age or younger. I am not elderly but have underlying health conditions. Because it’s too stressful wondering if someone’s going to get too close, I have taken to walking the alleys. Much more relaxing. Take care and know that you are not alone in this! ❤️

anonyme April 10, 2020 (12:47 pm)

Thanks for the supportive comments. I’m not that ancient (69) nor frail (but for a recent surgery) but it does seem like some people are becoming more defiant. Either that or they were always stupid, and now they’re homebound and it’s become more obvious. However, the majority of folks still seem aware, respectful, and supportive of neighbors and the community at large. I’ve had numerous people step forward to help out and it has been greatly appreciated. It’s rather heartwarming to see and experience- even for old misanthropes.

Sorry, comment time is over.