CORONAVIRUS: Tuesday 6/23 roundup

| Coronavirus | West Seattle news

Mask up! The governor has added that to his trademark “wash your hands” signoff at briefings, and now there’s extra oomph behind it – that’s where we start tonight’s roundup:

MANDATORY MASKS: As reported here moments after the annouuncement, a statewide mask mandate goes into effect Friday:

Beginning June 26, every Washingtonian in an indoor public space, or in an outside public space when unable to physically distance from others, will be legally required to wear a face covering.

Read the details here; if you want to read the fine print, we should get the actual health order tomorrow, when it’ll be signed.

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: Here’s the daily summary from Public Health, with cumulative totals:

*9,369 people have tested positive, up 96 from yesterday

*584 people have died, unchanged from yesterday

*1,550 people have been hospitalized, up 3 from yesterday

*147,898 people have been tested, up 3,267 from yesterday

One week ago, those totals were 8,855/576/1,532/127,616.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them here.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: Find them here.

‘STAY HEALTHY STREETS’: The city has spent almost $200,000 on them, according to a new budget document. Love ’em? Hate ’em? Ambivalent? Or? Your official chance to tell the city is finally here, via the long-promised survey.

MORE CITY GRANT RECIPIENTS: The city has announced 143 more recipients of $10,000 grants from its Small Business Stabilization Fund. We note a few West Seattle names on the list.

MORE OUTDOOR BUSINESS SPACE? The King County Council passed a bill today that could make room for it in unincorporated areas like White Center and Vashon.

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

Our Neighbors June 24, 2020 (7:12 am)

Yakima County, You are a beautiful, strong, fruitful county. You are in our hearts and our hospitals. May God grant your whole county healing and health.

Paul Hage June 24, 2020 (10:06 am)

This mornings WA stats – 25% of covid cases are people over 60 years of age. People over 60 are 90% of the deaths. If you are 60 or older you don’t need a mask to protect others You need a mask to protect yourself and others. An N95 stops 95% of the virus from entering your respiratory system – a surgical mask about 70% and cloth masks variable, but less to much less. A public outcry for availability of N95’s for seniors if they want them would compensate for the societal decision to allow overall infection to increase for the sake of the economy – thereby increasing the risk for seniors – if you care about your seniors – give them a break.

Muzzled June 24, 2020 (10:15 am)

So sad to see our numbers back on the rise. Living with this virus has definitely been demoralizing.

anonyme June 24, 2020 (2:10 pm)

What “extra oomph”? He also announced that there would be no enforcement of the “mandatory” requirement, meaning that it is neither. As for Yakima county, divine intervention is not the answer. Science is. The virus could care less about your politics or your belief system. Wear a mask (well, only if you really want to. Otherwise somebody might give you a really mean look).