The vaccination situation tops March’s final roundup of local/state pandemic headlines:

ELIGIBILITY EXPANDS, AND WILL EXPAND AGAIN SOON: On the day that 2 million more people in our state became eligible to get vaccinated, Gov. Inslee announced that instead of May 1st, April 15th will be the date everyone is eligible. (No vaccine is approved for children yet, so that’ll be everyone 16 and up.)

CITY ADDS ANOTHER COMMUNITY VACCINATION HUB: The city is now running four sites – West Seattle, Rainier Beach, Lumen Field, and now North Seattle. The new site at North Seattle College is mostly drive-up, and instead of being staffed by Seattle firefighters, the Seattle Visiting Nurse Association is the clinical partner.

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Seattle-King County Public Health daily-summary dashboard, the cumulative totals:

*88,067 people have tested positive, 341 more than yesterday’s total

*1,464 people have died, 2 more than yesterday’s total

*5,331 people have been hospitalized, 2 fewer than yesterday’s total (data adjustment)

*969,956 people have been tested, 594 more than yesterday’s total

One week ago, the four totals we track were 86,037/1,456/5,241/953,472.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find all the numbers, county by county, on the state Department of Health data page,.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: See them, nation by nation, here.

BACK TO SCHOOL: Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association are still negotiating about middle- and high-school students’ return to in-person learning. SEA says it thinks a tentative agreement can be reached this week. Its update is here; SPS’s update, including links to recent counterproposals, is here.

MASS MASKING: University of Washington research found that 89 percent of people in King County are wearing masks in public.

STATE HEALTH OFFICIALS’ BRIEFING: The weekly briefing by Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah and other top state health officials is scheduled for 9:30 am tomorrow. It’ll be livestreamed here.

IF YOU’RE VACCINE-ELIGIBLE AND LOOKING FOR IT … here are links to try:

*Check for West Seattle city-run site appointments here; sign up for the city’s notification list for all three of its sites here.
*Health-care providers (particularly bigger ones like UW Medicine, Franciscan, Swedish, Kaiser Permanente, etc.)
*covidwa.com (volunteer-run aggregator) – you can also follow its tweets for instant notifications
*The state’s Vaccine Locator (as mentioned above)
*The CDC’s Vaccine Finder
*Pharmacies big and small – Safeway, Rite Aid, QFC, Pharmaca, Costco
*Sea Mar clinics

GOT INFO? Email us at westseattleblog@gmail.com or phone us, text or voice, at 206-293-6302 – thank you!

3:47 PM: The governor has just announced that all Washingtonians – 16 and up, since no vaccine is yet approved for younger people – will be eligible for vaccination as of April 15th, 2+ weeks earlier than previously announced. This comes on the day 2 million more became eligible. He also warns of a “disturbing uptick” in cases, so he urges everyone to continue precautions such as mask-wearing and social distancing. Updates as the briefing goes.

3:54 PM: He says he’s very concerned about the 28 percent of people over 65 – more than 333,000 in our stqte – who have not yet been vaccinated and so are “living in the danger zone.” So if you know someone that applies to, he says, do everything you can to urge them to go get it. …. Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah says the state is now vaccinating 54,000 people a day, beyond its goal, and that 3.2 million doses have now been administered. If internet use is a barrier to someone making an appointment, he notes there’s a hotline, 800-525-0127. He also echoes the warning that “the pandemic’s not over until it’s over.”

4:07 PM: Before getting to media Q&A, the governor moves off the pandemic for a bit and talks about climate legislation in Olympia and DC, as well as hate crimes targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. “We have to stand up against (hate),” he urges. Today, he also notes, is César Chávez Day. … On to Q/A: Asked if vaccine allocation needs to be moved around because of uneven demand by region, he says there’s only an “infinitesimal” number of wasted doses in the state – “doses are getting into arms.” … Asked about supply to match the increase in eligibility, the governor says yes, supplies are increasing … He was also asked about the national report of 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine lost to some kind of factory mistake, but didn’t think that would affect our state much … He also says the state is in the “top third” nationwide in terms of “efficiency” in getting vaccine administered.

4:30 PM: So how long will it take, at current supply levels, to get everyone vaccinated? Dr. Shah reiterates that supplies are continuing to increase – though after a 400,000+-dose week this week it’s going back down under 400,000, pending future increases – they can’t make a specific prediction, as it could change further. … The briefing ends at 4:34 pm; the archived video should be available in the same window above shortly. Here, meantime, is the news release about the eligibility-expansion announcement.