CORONAVIRUS: Friday 5/15 roundup

Midway through May, we present tonight’s roundup of virus-crisis info:

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Public Health daily-summary dashboard:

*7,360 people have tested positive, up 53 from yesterday

*516 people have died, up 2 from Wednesday (remember, no additional deaths yesterday)

One week ago, those totals were 6,940 and 485.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: See them – nation by nation – here.

REQUESTED, NOT REQUIRED; When restaurants start reopening for in-person dining in Phase 2 (our area is not there yet), customers will be ASKED – not REQUIRED – to provide contact info, according to an update from Gov. Inslee today.

MORE PHASE 2 INFO: This time, for photography, construction, and golf. (Today’s announcement about the latter also includes some Phase 1 clarifications –

KEEP YOUR DISTANCE: A state Health Department update provides the latest reason not to get complacent with your distancing:

A new statewide report shows COVID-19 transmission is persisting in western Washington and slowly increasing in eastern Washington. The measure of how many new infections a single COVID-19 case will produce – known as the effective reproductive number – has not changed significantly in either region since the last statewide report, and continues to be higher than ideal.

WANT TO HELP? Maybe you’ll consider giving a home to a Little Free Pantry.

WHOLE LOTTA LOVE: Another sweet neighborhood sighting, just emailed by Emily:

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

17 Replies to "CORONAVIRUS: Friday 5/15 roundup"

  • Lisa May 15, 2020 (10:37 pm)

    “…counties with a population of less than 75,000 that have not had a new case of COVID-19 in the past three weeks can apply for a variance to move to Phase 2”

    I don’t recall “no new cases for 3 weeks” being a requirement for the state to open up. Is this special for smaller counties or is this a new stipulation that now applies to all counties? I’m thinking maybe I missed something in an earlier description of phase 2.

    • CAM May 16, 2020 (12:30 am)

      Those restrictions only apply if a county wants to apply to move to a new phase earlier than the rest of the state. It would not apply to the other counties that are following the regular state phased plan. 

  • Pilsner May 16, 2020 (2:05 am)

    Think of the virus tracking ability if they would just chip us with the vaccine. Ya know… like our cats ‘n dogs.

  • Stay well May 16, 2020 (12:10 pm)

    An article share…

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/dining/restaurant-opening-safety-coronavirus.html

    Will you be eating out once restrictions are lifted? Will you go anywhere, or will you be selective? Or how long do you think you will wait on dining out, what needs to change first?  

    Just curious how others are feeling about this and inviting discussion :)

    • Stay well May 16, 2020 (8:37 pm)

      To answer my own question and share…

      I think I’ll be holding off on dining out until we’re further along in battling this pandemic. I will continue to support restaurants with take out orders, and planning to increase take out dining, starting next month, if things continue trending better.

      For me, the whole point of dining out is to have a leisurely, enjoyable, social, and relaxing meal.  These times and the risks and precautions we need to take right now, are not conducive to this. I’d rather wait until it’s more safe for everyone, to enjoy dining out again.

      I’m interested to hear if others feel similarly, and also different perspectives.

      I’m also interested to hear from restaurant owners and managers. If instead of dining in, more customers placed take out orders starting next month, could that work for you? And how long do you think that model could be sustainable, could you survive 1-3 months of that? Or do you feel it’s critical to have customers dining in asap?

  • Mj May 16, 2020 (1:34 pm)

    Stay well – I for one am tired of the State/County/City dictating what adults choose or choose not to do.  The goal to flatten the curve and provide the health care system time to prepare was accomplished.  It’s past time to open things up again!

    • Jo May 16, 2020 (1:57 pm)

      Yeah, so we’ve heard. 

    • Anne May 16, 2020 (3:50 pm)

      MJ-Right-no doubt because of stay at home, social distancing policies. . A measured reopening-so we don’t fall back into more infections, more deaths & once again overwhelming  our health care system-is reasonable-in my view. Many want to flip a switch-thinking all is over & we’re back to pre C-19 times. Governor has said & personally I agree -it should be more like turning a dial. why go thorough all this – only to have it  come back? 

    • Stay well May 16, 2020 (3:51 pm)

      Thanks for sharing Mj. So, as soon as restaurants are allowed to have patrons again, will you be dining in, or will you wait awhile? Will you be selective or cautious at all, or just return to restaurants as before, like there isn’t a pandemic happening?

  • Mj May 16, 2020 (4:54 pm)

    Stay well – I will dine out at restaurants.

    I’m more anxious to get back to the gym. Gym workouts help reduce stress

    • Stay well May 16, 2020 (5:52 pm)

      I think many of us are missing our usual routines and opportunities for physical exercise… including going to the gym, yoga and Pilates studios, etc.

      There may be a way for these businesses to make these environments more safe, especially if they can open doors/windows and ventilate, create plexi barriers, physical distancing, regular sanitizing, etc.

      But without new protocols, I would have some concerns about these environments spreading the virus right now… with all the heavy breathing and many surfaces people touch.

    • AMD May 16, 2020 (6:08 pm)

      My gym has been doing Facebook and Zoom workouts to help people at home (I’m sure others have done the same).  Have you looked into remote options for your gym classes?  The stress reduction is the same whether you’re doing jumping jacks at home or at the gym.  I get that you’re frustrated (I think we all do at this point), but there are solutions to many of the problems you keep bringing up.  Asking you to adapt at little for the safety of others is not unreasonable.

  • Mj May 16, 2020 (7:14 pm)

    AMD – gym = weight lifting machines, thus there is no remote option.

    • ARPigeonPoint May 16, 2020 (9:03 pm)

      My dad is a gym rat (alternating with hiking) who ended up buying a weight machine for his place. If you have the room, it’s an option. 

    • AMD May 16, 2020 (9:24 pm)

      I figured out social distance boxing.  Where there’s a will, there’s a way.  I’m sure the nice folks at your gym would be happy to help you find solutions to your workout needs with what you have available. Gyms have been great across the board at helping people adapt and stay fit.  I also have to say there is terrible irony in your begging the government to solve these problems for you via relaxing restrictions, rather than you independently creating a solution of your own.

  • Lin May 16, 2020 (9:20 pm)

    Our child’s daycare is opening in phase 2. So I plan to send her. I am a bit worried about her catching the bug but she also really needs the social interactions at this age and zoom is just not enough. I have no idea how social distancing can be enforced there. We will not be going to dine in restaurants or other places to increase chance of infecting others or get infected ourselves. Weve been happy with takeouts and online orders. Are there other parents who are in the same situation and what do you think you will do?

    • J May 17, 2020 (4:30 am)

      This is a tough situation. No, I don’t think any child can maintain appropriate distance. It is developmentally impossible. The facility would need to lock each child in their own room to prevent transmission. That would not provide any socialization. Daycare will greatly increase the circle of contacts your family is exposed to- all the children and workers, and their contacts. This is why disease prevalence in the community needs to be near zero to consider returning. I would continue to avoid daycare unless absolutely necessary. We still have some community transmission, although less, the disease is still deadly and debilitating, we still do not have a cure or a vaccine, and it is still spread through breathing, singing, talking and feces. And it is still spread by asymptotic and symptomatic  carriers.  Daycare is needed by frontline families, and those returning to the workforce- the families that have greater risk of becoming infected and contagious.  So yes, daycare will increase your danger and increases risk for all your contacts. It is not safe. You will have to weigh the risk vs benefit analysis for yourself.

Sorry, comment time is over.