CORONAVIRUS: Thursday 2/25/2021 roundup

Lots of pandemic news tonight:

PHASE 2 AND HOLDING: During his briefing this afternoon (see the video here), Gov. Inslee said the entire state will remain in Phase 2 for at least the next two weeks, “paused” without any chance any region could fall back into Phase 1. He said that so much progress has been made, the possibility of a “circuit-breaker’ isn’t necessary, for now. So what about a Phase 3? That will be answered “in the next several weeks,” he said. In Q&A, he allowed it could be sooner.

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Public Health daily-summary dashboard, here are today’s cumulative totals:

*81,786 people have tested positive, 261 more than yesterday’s total

*1,373 people have died, 8 more than yesterday’s total

*5,088 people have been hospitalized, 2 fewer than yesterday’s total (data correction)

*899,466 people have been tested, 2,611 more than yesterday’s total

One week ago, the four totals we track were 80,635/1,331/5,042/884,554.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them, county by county, on the state Department of Health page.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 112.9 million cases worldwide, 28.4 million of them in the U.S. See the nation-by-nation breakout here.

STATE HEALTH OFFICIALS’ BRIEFING: This morning, the weekly briefing by state Health Department leaders included the latest vaccination overview – 1.4 million doses given statewide so far, “making up for lost time” now that weather delays are over. Next week the state’s getting 280,000 doses, and if the Johnson & Johnson vaccine gets approval, 60,900 doses could be sent to our state next week. The virus variants were discussed a bit too – in the past month, the state has had 39 reported cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, for example. Watch the briefing here.

CITY CLINIC FOLLOWUP: Last Sunday, we published word of a city-run pop-up clinic that at the time had appointments available for West Seattle and South Park residents 65+ Friday-Saturday. Today, the city finally officially announced it in a news release (though the appointments are long since all booked), calling it a “pilot” of a “Community Testing & Vaccination Site” that will be operated long-term once the vaccine supply allows. So thanks again to reader Ann for sharing the news of the short-term clinic in time for people to get appointments!

IF YOU’RE STILL SEEKING VACCINE … your neighbors highly recommend covidwa.com as well as Sea Mar‘s walk-in clinics

NEED FOOD? Along with the weekly distribution of food boxes tomorrow at 2-5 pm tomorrow at Food Lifeline (815 S. 96th) HQ, there’s also a Snack Pack distribution at Highland Park Elementary (1012 SW Trenton), drive-thru, 3-5 pm tomorrow.

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

Bandana February 25, 2021 (10:56 pm)

261 new cases is disappointing. There seems to be an upward trend in cases this week. I remember public health officials warning about Super Bowl gatherings at the beginning of the month. I wonder if the increasing numbers are related to it.

Smittytheclown February 26, 2021 (5:16 am)

One of the things I’ve learned is that the case and death numbers need to be looked at not on a single day basis but a 7-day or 14- day moving average. It levels out any reporting inconsistencies. State and national numbers are in steep decline. If you look at a state like West Virginia (way ahead on shots in arms) it’s incredible! Couple more months!

flimflam February 26, 2021 (8:07 am)

not sure where all this giddy optimism from Inslee is coming from – 261 new cases, 8 deaths, new strains here now. just for fun i tried to see if i was eligible for a vaccine as a restaurant worker – HA, not a chance.

anonyme February 26, 2021 (10:07 am)

I got the vaccine at the City of Seattle pop-up site at SW Athletic Complex this morning, which the Senior Center helped arrange. Easy peasy, and painless. By appointment only.

bankwoe February 26, 2021 (10:25 am)

Perhaps I’m reading the data incorrectly, but nowhere in the past 7 days has King county reported back more than 195 cases, and our 7 day moving average is at 134. Where did you get 261 from?

WSB February 26, 2021 (10:55 am)

From the same place we get the data every single day/night. Linked above. As that page has already updated for today, however, to see the 2/25 update you will have to go here:
https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/covid-19/daily-summary.aspx
- bankwoe February 26, 2021 (5:22 pm)
  
  So interesting — I look at the daily dashboard from the same site and there is a discrepancy in the numbers. Note the chart versus the source you shared https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/covid-19/data/daily-summary.aspx
  - WSB February 26, 2021 (6:37 pm)
    
    That’s because, as I noted, they have already posted today’s update – 2/26. I write the roundup late each night; last night’s had the 2/25 update.

CAM February 26, 2021 (10:42 am)

I’m not sure if this has been posted on one of the covid updates yet but the city has a text chain for left over vaccine doses at the end of the day that seniors can sign up for here:https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=RR7meOtrCUCPmTWdi1T0Gx2PbOg6RAdGgprGIJyZsjZUQjdNTktUWlhWOFVTUzJFNTU0U1JZSFVITC4u

PATRICK PAVEY February 26, 2021 (11:30 am)

On another note, about the Sea-Mar walk-in vaccinations. I first saw this notice on Wednesday morning. Since my wife and I are over 70 we rushed to the closest clinic in White Center. It was around 10 or 1:30 when we got there. All of the vaccine for that day was already scheduled for arms. Same thing for Thursday, but the greeter started a new list for Friday. My wife and I were first on the list. Now, I wasn’t sure if that meant we were guaranteed a shot on Friday morning or not but we had hope. We ran into a fellow in the parking lot who had been there since 5:30 AM and was waiting for a call that Today is Friday. My wife and I were told to return at 8:00 AM so we showed up at 7:30. There was a sign that said no more vaccine for this week but a Sea-Mar worker told us to go around to the 15rh Ave. entrance and someone would be there at 8:00 to greet us. We did as told and sure enough we were greeted at 8:00 and since we were at the top of the list we were on our way out the door at 8:30 WITH A SHOT IN OUR ARMS! I hope this means they caught on that the demand for the vaccine precludes a “cattle-call” system to get people in. I would like to think they shifted gears on the fly and set up reservations. This Friday went so smoothly and I really want to commend the staff at Sea-Mar for making it all work. And, yes I have a confirmed date AND time for my second dose. My advice, go to one of the Sea-Mar facilities (South Park on 14th S. or White Center on 15th SW) and ask when they are taking appointments. This is not from them but I hope they won’t tell you to buzz off, that they can schedule you in real soon. And yes, it will all depend on whether they get more vaccine.

editrixie February 26, 2021 (11:34 am)

I look at those vaccine numbers and I don’t feel optimistic at all. We are so far behind and that’s a frighteningly paltry amount of vaccine coming in. At this rate, people like me won’t have a chance until 2022. For someone who lives alone and has been without human contact for over a year, this is…really depressing.

Buddy February 26, 2021 (1:49 pm)

Washington State Totally Sucks when it comes to getting people the Covid-19 shot! Other states are way ahead of us! By July 1 people older than 16 years old can get Covid-19 shot in Oregon!

Triangle resident February 26, 2021 (3:36 pm)

Pharmaca in the west Seattle junction just announced they too have the vaccine

WSB February 26, 2021 (3:49 pm)

We called after somebody called ud. They don’t have it yet but are hopeful within three weeks or so, the manager told us.