CORONAVIRUS: Tuesday 9/15 roundup

Mid-September virus-crisis updates:

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

*21,013 people have tested positive, 82 more than yesterday’s total

*747 people have died, 4 more than yesterday’s total

*2,309 people have been hospitalized, 4 more than yesterday’s total

*403.349 people have been tested, 1,714 more than yesterday’s total

NO ONE-WEEK-AGO COMPARISONS … because last Tuesday was the day when county and state stats were down.

ONE MORE AREA DEATH: One of the five zip codes that are entirely or partly within West Seattle, 98146, recorded another death in today’s report and is now up to 14. (Cross-referencing the daily by-city stats, it appears this is a Burien death, as that jurisdiction is shown with 1 in today’s report, while Seattle and White Center both show 0.)

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.

NATIONAL/WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 29.5 million cases worldwide, 6.6 million of them in the U.S. – see other nation-by-nation stats by going here.

GOVERNOR’S BRIEFING TODAY: He talked about COVID-19 as well as wildfires – you can see the video here; he turns to the pandemic just past 17 minutes in, starting with words of concern about college-community outbreaks, particularly what happened in Pullman, and continuing with a graph showing a possible uptick in virus activity overall. “This virus hasn’t gone away,” reminded Secretary of Health John Wiesman.

STATE HEALTH LEADERS’ BRIEFING TOMORROW: You can get a full update on the statewide situation by watching the media briefing with the state’s COVID-19 response leaders tomorrow (Wednesday) at 2 pm; it’ll be streamed here.

COVID CLOSURE: Walgreens confirmed to WSB today that the High Point store’s Friday and Saturday closure was COVID-19-related.

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

8 Replies to "CORONAVIRUS: Tuesday 9/15 roundup"

  • psps September 15, 2020 (11:37 pm)

    For all you “I’ll do what I want. It’s my choice to wear a mask or not. MAGA!” types:

    Only about 65 close family members and friends were on the guest list for a bride and groom’s rustic wedding celebration in a small Maine town in early August.

    But the nuptials began an outbreak now traced to more than 175 reported novel coronavirus infections and also to the deaths of seven people, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

    The cluster of coronavirus infections that originated from the Big Moose Inn outside Millinocket on Aug. 7 continues to grow in Maine, state health officials said, after guests flouted social distancing and mask guidelines. Now people who have no association with the party have died, including six residents of the Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Madison, Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah said in a news briefing Tuesday.

    The Millinocket wedding is not the only rule-defying celebration linked to a growing number of cases, as contact tracers and public health officials across the country continue to track down infections that stem from summer “superspreader” gatherings, including a motorcycle rally in South Dakota and a choir practice in Washington.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/09/15/maine-wedding-covid/

  • MK September 16, 2020 (2:02 am)

    Sure, there are super-spreader events that have been documented all over the world, including the Maine case that you referenced. But rather than focusing on the negative where the sky is falling and doom is always around the corner, let’s focus on some good news for a change in these very smoky times. Did you know that King County (with its 2.25M people) just hit the “mythical” low of 2% positivity rate in its Covid testing? And for Seattle proper, we’re actually under 1%, self-selected of course, which makes the true number even lower. In every part of our state, other than Whitman County (WSU), the numbers are trending lower. Take common-sense precautions. I certainly do, but by no means is the world ending, and we can do so much for Thanksgiving and Christmas if we’re just smart about it.

    • Sunflower September 16, 2020 (3:52 pm)

      The decreases are great, thanks for sharing! I agree, it’s important to look at the positive, along with staying aware and careful.

      I also appreciate psps sharing about what can happen when people let their guard down and gather in groups and aren’t being careful. It’s an important reminder, to help us continue with the current more positive rates.

      This holiday season will be a bit different but interesting, certainly an opportunity to change things up.  I’m looking forward to seeing what we all come up with.  Zoom dinners, movie nights, drunk caroling? Dropping off pies and cookies and small gifts at each other’s homes?

      Just because these times aren’t different, doesn’t mean there can’t still be connection and joy.

  • Graciano September 16, 2020 (4:44 am)

    EXACTLY! I hear people at work talk about things they’re doing on their days off…going to have birthday party for my 15 yr old niece… going to have BBQ with family and friends so we’ll be OK it is family and friends??? going to the Mall it is open again…another person, friend, oh we’re going to go to a wedding and then meet up with some people afterwards… Come on people???!! we are bored too and want to go places we haven’t gone to in a very long time but we will be good stay home do things around the house and maybe, maybe go on vacation in 2022??? fingers crossed.

  • Dr. No September 16, 2020 (7:09 am)

    Psps, I didn’t see anyone write anything. Why go on the offensive? I think we can all agree here, as I sarcastically look around the make pretend room, that the pandemic is real and you can get sick. I think we can all agree that we care about human life and don’t want to see anyone die. I think most take the recommended precautions. You just have to be careful, because I’ll tell ya- this is when you lose folks- when you start labeling people Trump supporters because they may disagree with you. This is a free nation. To start barking because someone may not think, feel, act, vote the way you do is your right. 100%. However, it is their right to do the same/opposite whatever. I’m not saying they can jeopardize public health, thats wrong. I’m saying that if you don’t agree with someone and you begin to label them and call them intolerant, you become the very thing your railing against. 

    • heartless September 16, 2020 (3:49 pm)

      I’m not saying I entirely disagree with you, but your final bit about tolerance sticks in my craw.  So as a partial aside:

      You might want to consider Karl Popper’s arguments about tolerance.  It’s easily found on the internet, but the basic gist is that there are certain things we shouldn’t tolerate–mainly intolerance.  That is, continuing to tolerate certain views, no matter how intolerant those views may be, is the absolute wrong thing to do.

  • Lisa September 16, 2020 (10:29 am)

    Exactly, @Dr. No. I used to like reading the comments to hear other perspectives on a topic but I can barely bring myself to read them anymore. There’s way too much complaining, (virtual) finger wagging, shaming and labeling of people that the commenters don’t even know. It’s so dang tiresome.

  • Beetle September 16, 2020 (10:51 am)

    Well said Dr. No

Sorry, comment time is over.