CORONAVIRUS: Tuesday 5/12 roundup

Testing was the topic when the governor held a media briefing this afternoon. But before we get to that, we start the nightly virus-crisis local roundup with the updated numbers:

KING COUNTY: From the Public Health Seattle-King County data dashboard:

*7,179 people have tested positive, up 64 from yesterday

*511 people have died, up 6 from yesterday

One week ago, those totals were 6,653 and 467.

ANOTHER LOCAL DEATH: Also from the data dashboard, the West Seattle zip code with the highest COVID-19 death toll, 98126, is now up to 11.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them here.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: Find them here.

CONTACT TRACING: That’s what the governor spoke about during his afternoon media briefing. Here’s the news release; here’s the video; and here’s a graphic:

HOW PHASE 2 WILL AFFECT RETAILERS: Also from the governor’s office today – here are the rules under which retail stores will be expected to operate under Phase 2 of the reopening.

SPEAKING OF RETAILERS … the city Office of Economic Development published the story of the West Seattle Junction boutique Carmilia’s and how its proprietor Linda Sabee has adapted her business to the current challenges.

ALSO IN THE JUNCTION: A restaurant reopening, after 2 months!

NEED FOOD? Another Junction restaurant is offering a free meal to anyone in need. Want to help fund that program? Sign up for a live online experience with the chef Saturday.

‘FLY-BY’ ON THE GROUND, AT THE MOUNT: The photo and report are from Providence Mount St. Vincent:

A flight team flew by Providence Mount St. Vincent today to thank nurses and caregivers for their “NONSTOP EFFORTS” to serve the residents and patients at The Mount.

Thanks to Flight Officer Blake Reynolds, Flight Attendants Jessica Eller and Drew Minzghor and Captain Chris Philbrook (all West Seattleites!) for delivering 100 fruit and cheese boxes! We are so grateful for their generosity and we hope to see them in the air soon!

(Photo L-R from Providence – Tanisha Mojica: Director of Clinical Services; Charlene Boyd: Administrator; Colleen Farrell: Annual Giving and Public Relations Manager; Molly Swain: Foundation and Public Relations Director; and from Alaska Airlines — Flight Officer Blake Reynolds, Flight Attendant Drew Minzghor, Flight Attendant Jessica Eller, Captain Chris Philbrook)

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

18 Replies to "CORONAVIRUS: Tuesday 5/12 roundup"

  • Just wondering May 13, 2020 (6:50 am)

    What airline did the fly by at MSV?

    • WSB May 13, 2020 (10:52 am)

      It was just a ground visit. The caption (last paragraph) notes the visitors were from Alaska Airlines.

      • Cathy May 13, 2020 (1:34 pm)

         THE DEATHS from zip code 98126For a long time none now so many Where are they comming from the zip code does no good if there is no information about this occurrences Sounds like the the places on 35th street. There are 2 places that cater to seniors  we shouldn’t have to guessWSB your great  but it causes anxiety only knowing  there are deaths

        • WSB May 13, 2020 (1:54 pm)

          This is the entirety of the info that’s available.

  • DRC May 13, 2020 (9:48 am)

               Enough of the BODY COUNT!!

    • Julia May 13, 2020 (12:25 pm)

      I appreciate the daily county death report as a way to see if we are slowing transmission. I also would be interested if the numbers within West Seattle went up dramatically as it would indicate increased personal risk.

      • ARPigeonPoint May 13, 2020 (2:46 pm)

        I agree with Julia. Just because information makes you feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s unnecessary information.

      • Jethro Marx May 13, 2020 (5:38 pm)

        How do you establish rates of transmission by looking at the number of deaths?  Are you saying it would increase your personal risk or everyone’s? 

    • Brian May 13, 2020 (12:45 pm)

      Are you asking a journalism outlet to stop reporting facts as they are apparent? That’s a bold move.   

  • rico May 13, 2020 (2:25 pm)

    I would like to see comparison numbers for all other types of flu as well.

    • Zoomy May 13, 2020 (5:52 pm)

      Not hard to google search https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm

    • rac May 13, 2020 (8:03 pm)

      I’m concerned that Jay has 5 metrics only focused on COVID-19.  Nothing about other sources of harm to people.  Nothing about the economy.  It’s like a pilot saying they only are looking at airspeed and nothing else.  We have COVID tunnel vision.  And when historians look back on this time period, we will look like complete fools.  Scared, incompetent fools. 

      • Stay well May 14, 2020 (8:48 am)

        We can’t have economic health, without public health.

        If we promote economic interests over public health, it will set the economy back further in the long run. So the more patient, strategic, slow, and measured approach right now, is actually thought to benefit the economy.  But this will require us to look at this from a wider and longer view.  

        We are all concerned and anxious about the economy. Things look really bad right now, it’s understandable, it is scary. But if we were to completely open things up for the sake of the economy now, out of fear for the economy and our jobs and our individual circumstances, etc., the pandemic will get worse, which will have greater impacts on the economy, our jobs, our personal circumstances, etc., which will be even scarier.

        Sometimes slow and steady wins the race, or is part of the strategy.

        There are a lot of unknowns. No one knows for certain right now how this pandemic will evolve and the eventual impacts. No one knows for sure what the best approach is. But this is the view and approach many leaders are advocating and taking. It could prove to be wrong, but I respect the approach which strives to both preserve health and life and look further ahead at long term impacts on the economy, and our lives, rather than rushing ahead without foresight, and strategy, which would likely have an even more devastating outcome. Not saying you’re wrong or I’m right. Just attempting to help explain this perspective.

    • Stay well May 13, 2020 (11:32 pm)

      This isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, but the linked page below shows data which compares recent reported average daily death tolls for covid-19 with the average daily death tolls of influenza from the previous flu season. Hope it’s of some interest.

      https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109281/covid-19-daily-deaths-compared-to-all-causes/

      • rac May 14, 2020 (6:07 am)

        That’s interesting and gives it some perspective.  But the best analysis would show “lift” in the death rate over time.  Because some of those “COVID” deaths would have died of some other cause (esp. since 60%+ have happened in long-term care homes).  Really death counts should be fractional and attributed to all the ailments (e.g. if I have heart disease, cancer and COVID they should all get some of the blame).  But we don’t do that – one ailment gets the prize so to speak.

        • Stay well May 14, 2020 (11:28 am)

          I see your line of thinking, that some who died from covid-19 may have died from the flu or another cause. 

          Keep in mind though, that many in the vulnerable population get flu shots every year (doctors strongly encourage this) which would have protected many from dying from the flu. 

          Also, just because some have an underlying illness which makes them more likely to die from covid-19, doesn’t necessarily make them more likely to die at this time from something else. Some people live many years with underlying medical issues. So in these cases, where doctors have indicated, Covid-19 is truly the cause of their death. 

          Covid-19 is said to be a more serious virus than the typical flu, so some of these people may have survived the flu but wouldn’t be able to survive Covid-19.

          Just some points of discussion.

          • Stay well May 14, 2020 (6:32 pm)

            *For clarification, I was meaning to say…‘

            I see your line of thinking, that some who died from covid-19 may have still died from the flu or another cause, if they hadn’t died from covid-19.’

  • Mj May 13, 2020 (5:51 pm)

    Julia agree the daily data is nice, the data in the Seattle Times includes cases by age group and passings by age group.  The ST’s data is very revealing.

Sorry, comment time is over.