CORONAVIRUS: Sunday 11/8 roundup

Here are tonight’s pandemic notes:

KING COUNTY’S NEWEST NUMBERS: As with most nights, we start with the cumulative totals from the Public Health daily-summary dashboard:

*30,866 people have tested positive, up 451 from yesterday’s total

*811 people have died, unchanged since Friday

*2,639 people have been hospitalized, up 4 from yesterday’s total

*568,836 people have been tested, up 1,178 from yesterday’s total

One week ago, the King County totals were 27,967/804/2,582/545,102.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 50.4 million cases and 1,256.000+ deaths – see the nation-by-nation breakdown here.

(added 12:35 am) RESTAURANT CLOSURE: Talarico’s in The Junction announced via social media Sunday that the restaurant is closed because “a family member of Talarico’s staff has tested positive for COVID-19. Talarico’s will be closed until all staff tests negative and the entire establishment has been sanitized.”

SURVEY – COVID-19 & TECHNOLOGY: A reminder from the state Health Department:

The University of Washington’s anonymous COVID-19 and Technology Survey closes Nov. 10. Information from the survey will be used to inform the launch of a technology designed to help stop the spread of COVID-19. It asks questions about technology, privacy, your activities at this time, and some demographic information, such as your employment and the number of people who live in your household. The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.

TELL YOUR PANDEMIC STORY: Another reminder – the Southwest Seattle Historical Society still wants your pandemic diary entry, to help tell the story for future generations, of what life is like right now.

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

West Seattlite November 9, 2020 (12:03 am)

451/1178 = 38.3% positive test rate. The winter spike is definitely here. Stay safe, everyone.

CAM November 9, 2020 (2:07 am)

I don’t disagree about the increase in cases but comparing the positive tests from a single day to the tests from that day gives an inaccurate picture. For example, there is less opportunity for testing on weekends just by default but the test results reported on Saturdays and Sundays will include some results from tests conducted during the work week. Comparing a rough estimate of positive cases from the last week to tests conducted in the last week suggests that 1 in 8 getting tested are testing positive, or about 12.5%. That’s still a terrible number.

Graciano November 9, 2020 (7:43 am)

Either everyone starts wearing a mask CORRECTLY and social distances themselves or go back to a level 1 shelter in place. This virus just might kill someone you love if these numbers continue to rise.

Maskup November 9, 2020 (8:27 am)

Although we’re still better than a lot of other states, it’s baffling to me how many people still don’t mask up in Seattle. It’s also frustrating when I see people outside, within 6ft and no mask. I’m a true Fauchi believer, it’s not outside and no mask, it’s outside AND social distance 6ft or more or MASK. Also, just because it’s open doesn’t mean you should go. I understand that restaurants have to make their money, but do research on the safety of outdoor tents and pods that is now all the rage.
- Matt P November 9, 2020 (12:57 pm)
  
  They should take out the ambiguity: if you’re outside of your own home, wear a mask. It’s not that big of a deal. Instead we throw in the unless you’re 6 feet away and then people start pushing the limits. Better for everyone to just wear them and then we’ll start reducing the spread.
  - Kelkouska November 12, 2020 (1:57 pm)
    
    agreed, matt. it’s just easier to wear it and assume you’re going to come into contact with someone. It baffles me that so many people walk down California ave without them… its near impossible to not come into contact with someone. The most frustrating are the joggers that refuse to run around you and instead run right next to you with no mask. -___-I just dont see why they wouldnt decide to run in the more residential parts of WS where they can easily dodge people.
- bsw November 9, 2020 (4:17 pm)
  
  I’m sure everyone has the same goal which is to reduce spread of the virus. That being said, all the literature indicates distancing is the first line of defense whether masked or not. Distancing gets overlooked many times. I spend a lot of time as a pedestrian outdoors and I see many instances every day of individuals / groups of people both large and small making it impossible for others to maintain distance where there is plenty of room to distance. I see groups fanned out completely across 2 lane walkways / individuals who insist on the middle of a wide walkway when simply moving to the side will allow others to maintain distance of well over the standard. In most all cases I see when given room to distance, people I see steer well clear of others.
Buddy November 9, 2020 (11:48 am)

Hey, In my opinion you are correct and I truly feel that we will go back to level 1 shelter in place within 6 months. After going on a walk and looking through the window at families and people sitting at various round tables at a restaurant visiting and not eating and not wearing a mask and tables definitely not 6 feet apart it alarmed me on how no serious people in our community are taking this virus.
Phil November 9, 2020 (3:22 pm)

As truly disturbing as the lack of outdoor masking is around here, I was in Arizona a couple weeks ago and it was well under 50% of people obeying the mask mandates INDOORS! I hope that craziness doesn’t start spreading across the country. I’ll be headed to Florida next week where I hear they have NO mask mandates at all! It’s going to be truly terrifying.

Buddy November 9, 2020 (9:45 am)

I walked by the bar/restaurant in white center neighborhood and everyone sitting adults and children at the round tables were not wearing a mask at all, they were sitting and visiting and at the time were not eating ( I didn’t see food on their tables). The tables didn’t appear to be at least six feet apart from each other at all. It was quite shocking to all of the people sitting and visiting at each table.