CORONAVIRUS: Wednesday 3/24/2021 roundup

| Coronavirus | West Seattle news

Tonight’s pandemic news:

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Seattle-King County Public Health daily-summary dashboard, the cumulative totals – note that if you look at the SKCPH source page, the “new since yesterday” numbers are wrong again, so the “more than yesterday’s total” numbers below are from our math:

*86,037 people have tested positive, 304 more than yesterday’s total

*1,456 people have died, 1 more than yesterday’s total

*5,241 people have been hospitalized, 9 more than yesterday’s total

*953,472 people have been tested, 2,893 more than yesterday’s total

One week ago, the four totals we track were 84,574/1,444/5,188/938,453.

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.

VACCINATION ELIGIBILITY: The state is reported to have confirmed it plans to comply with the federal mandate to open eligibility to everyone by May 1st. (Everyone 16 and up, that is – so far, there’s still no vaccine approved for children.)

IF YOU’RE ELIGIBLE AND LOOKING FOR AN APPOINTMENT … 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. (Note: Commenters say they’ve been told at this site that if you’re eligible, you can just show up during the day without an appointment. We have not verified that as official policy. We have verified the practice of offering “leftover” vaccine at day’s end – to the oldest people in line first.)
*Health-care providers (particularly bigger ones like UW Medicine, CHI Franciscan, Swedish, Kaiser Permanente, etc.)
*covidwa.com (volunteer-run aggregator)
*The state says it’s improved its own lookup tool
*Here’s another multi-provider search to try
*Pharmacies big and small – Safeway, Rite Aid, QFC, Pharmaca, Costco
*Sea Mar clinics

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.

PANDEMIC RELIEF: King County Executive Dow Constantine proposed a $600 million spending plan for mostly federal and state funding today.

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

flimflam March 24, 2021 (10:55 pm)

what? 300+ cases? i thought covid was over now?

Smittytheclown March 25, 2021 (1:59 am)

News alert. “Cases” are never going away. Never. It’s like norovirus or flu. Part of our lives forever. It’s hospitalizations and deaths that matter. Both falling dramatically as more and more get vaccinated. Biden is correct. Independent Day will have multiple meanings this year.
- AMD March 25, 2021 (10:52 am)
  
  Hospitalizations are creeping up. Not “falling dramatically” or anything close to it.
  - smittytheclown March 25, 2021 (12:57 pm)
    
    Goal is less than 10% filled with Covid patients. It’s at 4.3% and has fallen dramatically(bottom of page).https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/covid-19/data/key-indicators.aspx
- flimflam March 25, 2021 (1:46 pm)
  
  thanks so much for your “news alert” – i have one for you as well. News alert! as someone that has been working in a restaurant around unmasked diners for months, i find the uptick concerning, especially since we are STILL not eligible for the vaccine. glad you have such a rosy outlook – you must work from home or not otherwise be subjected to be around unmasked people.
  - Smittytheclown March 25, 2021 (2:31 pm)
    
    I do work from home but make a point of eating out at least once a week. Usually more. We order in twice a week as well as we are trying to keep our favorites around! I appreciate your industry and their workers. I can be done safely. Take care.
    - Graciano March 25, 2021 (4:45 pm)
      
      I understand the trying to keep restaurants afloat but doesn’t anyone know how to cook a meal at home anymore? Maybe the wife and I just grew up in different times???
    - Smittytheclown March 26, 2021 (3:19 am)
      
      21 meals per week so eating out or ordering in a total of three times seems reasonable. I agree though, growing up we maybe went out once month!
Bandana March 25, 2021 (6:31 am)

Disappointing. The daily number has been increasing since the start of the month. Enjoy Phase 3 while you can.
- David B March 25, 2021 (2:56 pm)
  
  It’ll be tough for the gov to roll back any freedom restrictions at this point. Arizona just joined the list of Free States today. There are more and more options of states to travel to and work remotely for those of us in the Restricted States. I already have a couple more trips planned to visit my 2 friends who’s “work remotely” trips to FL and AZ have become permanent. Plenty of people I know planning trips to get a break from the restrictions in the next month or two.
  - polka dot March 25, 2021 (5:07 pm)
    
    They’re rolling back if cases reach over 200 per day per 100,000 for more than two weeks. We were at 104 per 100,000 two days ago and rising.
    - polka dot March 25, 2021 (5:31 pm)
      
      Just updated, now 123.9 per 100,000.

SD March 25, 2021 (1:08 am)

To clarify, the firefighters running the West Seattle site said if you’re over 65, you can just show up without an appointment. They did not say that extended to anyone else under 65 who’s eligible, I didn’t get the impression that was the case.

justme March 25, 2021 (5:30 am)

Just to clarify what a firefighter told me when I was there to get my vaccine. Nobody will be vaccinated without an appointment. If people could just “show up” as a rumor suggests, it would mess it up for all those that do have appointments. This should be clearly stated so that rumors don’t start a frenzy down there inconveniencing the ones who exercised the right procedure.

SD March 25, 2021 (2:22 pm)

Justme I’ve been there waiting for leftovers and at least 2 of the times I was there, the firefighter said to the waiting crowd, if you have friends or neighbors 65 and older, send them here, they don’t need an appointment or to wait for extras. After I got my leftover shot on Monday afternoon, and was waiting the 15 minutes, I asked the assembled 3-4 firefighters who were packing up, and they confirmed that people 65 and older could show up during the day without an appointment. As per my comment on this thread, I didn’t get the impression that was meant for all eligible people, just 65+.

Kelly Mitchell March 25, 2021 (7:14 am)

Does anyone know what time is considered end of day for appointments at the West Seattle vaccination site?

DumplingGirl March 25, 2021 (1:37 pm)

Either 4 or 4:30, depends on the day

WSB March 25, 2021 (12:56 pm)

For those interested, the governor is having a pandemic-update briefing today, not announced until midmorning so we didn’t have it in this roundup or the daily preview list. 3:15 pm, to be streamed here:
https://www.tvw.org/watch/?eventID=2021031385

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