CORONAVIRUS: Saturday 6/13 roundup

Don’t get complacent, warns the governor, and that tops our nightly roundup:

NOT OVER YET: First the state Health Department reported this:

Today the Washington State Department of Health released the latest statewide situation report, which shows COVID-19 transmission continued to increase in eastern Washington as of the end of May, with a possible uptick in western Washington as well. There are still significant differences in transmission from county to county.

The situation in eastern Washington is of greatest concern, particularly in Benton, Franklin, Spokane and Yakima counties. The report estimates cases and deaths in these counties will soon increase substantially if COVID-19 continues to spread at current levels. By population, these counties are in a comparable position to King County at its peak in March. They may require similar efforts to expand hospital capacity and testing, protect the people at highest risk and increase physical distancing.

Governor Inslee subsequently released a statement including:

Washingtonians have done the hard work to flatten the curve on COVID-19 and we know this has been tremendously difficult for families, businesses and communities over the past few months. But today’s report shows us there is still reason for strong concern in parts of our state. The report estimates cases and deaths will soon increase substantially if COVID-19 continues to spread at current levels. …

This is not the time to give up on efforts to protect ourselves, our families and our communities. We are still in the middle of a pandemic that is continuing to infect and kill Washingtonians.

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: As for how we’re doing … here are the numbers from Public Health‘s daily-summary dashboard:

*8,700 people have tested positive, 56 more than yesterday

*574 people have died, 3 more than yesterday

*1,518 people have been hospitalized, 1 more than yesterday

*117,097 people have been tested, 2,081 more than yesterday

One week ago, the cases/deaths were 8,422/566.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: More than 7.7 million people have tested positive. Most cases: U.S., Brazil, Russia, India, United Kingdom. See the breakdown, nation by nation, here.

SO FAR, NO PROBLEM FROM PROTESTS: Noticed this tonight on the city webpage about ongoing free testing: “To our knowledge and based on volunteered information, there is no evidence so far of people testing positive for COVID-19 from attending protests in Seattle.”

MORE ON THE CITY-PARK CHANGES: In case you missed last night’s quick mention, we published a breakdown today.

AT THE GROCERY STORES: A few changes of note in our (almost-) weekly update.

FARMERS’ MARKET UPDATES: The organization that operates the West Seattle Farmers’ Market reopened another of its markets this week, Columbia City (Wednesdays). Also, it’s launched a new website. Meantime, here’s the West Seattle vendor list for tomorrow – market entrance is still at California/Alaska, with the line going eastbound on Alaska if needed.

GOT SOMETHING TO REPORT? westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302, text/voice – thank you!

21 Replies to "CORONAVIRUS: Saturday 6/13 roundup"

  • Neighbor June 14, 2020 (2:39 am)

    Is this really a 15% death rate? What am I missing?

    • AdmiralE June 14, 2020 (10:40 am)

      574 / 117097 = 00.49% (less than 1/2 of 1%)It’s actually likely lower since only folks with symptoms were getting tested at the beginning and probably mostly only exposed/symptomatic folks now…

      • CAM June 15, 2020 (9:50 am)

        You’re using the number for total people tested to calculate your percentage which would not produce an accurate statistic. 

    • Molly June 14, 2020 (1:30 pm)

      Nope. That’s a 6.6% death rate.

  • Mark June 14, 2020 (8:07 am)

    My main question is of those 3,000 tested, how many identified as having participated in the protests. I couldn’t find it on the info page. Since the information is (or isn’t) volunteered, am taking that stat with a grain of salt.

    • Smittytheclown June 14, 2020 (10:40 am)

      The media is already blaming the upcoming Trump rallies for spreading the virus and they haven’t even happened yet!  Heaven forbid they even mention all these protests as a contributor.  Vastly different numbers as well.  15k per Trump rally vs hundreds of thousands if not millions marching daily across the country.  Not even remotely comparable but will be treated as such.

      • ally cat June 14, 2020 (11:19 am)

        Just one expected difference between the racial justice protestors and the Trump rallies…

        The majority of protestors are wearing masks and taking other precautions, and seem to understand taking measures to help protect others in the community. The president himself has often chosen not to wear a mask and many of his supporters have complained about mask wearing and other pandemic related mitigation strategies. So it’s not expected his crowds will largely be wearing masks and taking other protective measures.

        Just like many people are working right now, in a traditional job, during the pandemic, even though there are risks for transmission… these protestors are also working. They are taking on the job of activism for needed social and political change, in response to recent events. 
        It is concerning that we have these two crises happening at the same time, crowds are not ideal during a pandemic, but good to see people wearing masks and getting tested afterwards. 

        I truly hope most people understand what is happening right now, and the difference between people gathering in these protests, and say, people gathering in a pool for fun. 

      • AJP June 14, 2020 (6:24 pm)

        BLM protests: outside, easy to distance even with a lot of people, most people wearing masks. Trump rallies: mostly indoors, people sitting right next to each other, lining up for bathrooms, most people proudly not wearing masks. 

    • Lin June 14, 2020 (11:37 am)

      According to Seattle times, so far, there are no covid-19 positives from self identified protesters. So hopefully that’s true for the future as well.

    • Lagartija Nick June 14, 2020 (5:10 pm)

      The article states that cases are spiking in Eastern Washington (hardly a hot bed of protests over there) and that King County is not seeing any rise of cases related to the protests yet. The protests have been going for two weeks now, so yes, that is plenty of time for the incubation period to occur. It’s clear that Mark and Smitty either didn’t read the article or chose to ignore it in favor of their own narrative.

      • Seaweed June 14, 2020 (6:27 pm)

        No,. It shows that EW is behind the progression of SARS-CoV2 because… they are Rural.No,. It shows that the SARS-CoV2 is overall a less dangerous virus to relatively healthy people than we have been feared to believe.

        • Lagartija Nick June 14, 2020 (9:23 pm)

          Seaweed, it looks like you too failed to read the article (or understand what it said). I would suggest re-reading the first two paragraphs starting with “which shows covid19 transmission continued to increase in Eastern Washington”. And pay particular attention to this part in the second paragraph, “By population, these counties are in a comparable position to King County AT IT’S PEAK in March”.

          • Seaweed June 15, 2020 (8:21 am)

            I understood it perfectly well. You just continue to do the spin.

          • Lagartija Nick June 15, 2020 (10:24 am)

            So the word “increase” means ‘less’ or ‘fewer’ to you? Interesting, good luck with getting the OED to change the definition of increase for you.

      • smittytheclown June 15, 2020 (4:05 pm)

        That’s actually fantastic news.  It does not spread as easily as thought.  Lots of images around the country of people protesting and NOT wearing masks.  Again, positive news!

  • anonyme June 14, 2020 (9:16 am)

    I’ve reached the end of my rope.  The bus cancellation was the nail in the coffin.  Those who don’t need it always think there is “help” available, but don’t actually know what the hell they’re talking about.  Can’t change reality, resources are finite.  Turning to alcohol (and ice cream) as penultimate solution…function is no longer possible in a world this dysfunctional.

    • pilsner June 14, 2020 (1:32 pm)

      Welcome, you are not alone.

  • Gxnx June 14, 2020 (10:42 am)

    They should set up a testing center in the Chaz area .

    • Vic June 14, 2020 (3:04 pm)

      im sure they would be down. more testing sites that are accessible should be available.

  • anonyme June 14, 2020 (12:43 pm)

    Isn’t it a bit early even to be testing for supposed protest-related virus, much less analyzing as-yet unknown results of tests yet to be done?  Can things get any weirder?  Oops, almost forgot, I was told earlier that CV19 is a hoax and that BLM is a vast conspiracy fueled by Hollywood millions – so yes, it can.

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