CORONAVIRUS: Wednesday 3/31/2021 roundup

| Coronavirus | West Seattle news

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!

John March 31, 2021 (11:10 pm)

The typical 7 day total of positive tests during the first half of the month was under 1,000. That number was over 1,000 on the 1st and it has been over 1,000 since the 13th (well, when this number was available since some days reports were not available).

We close March with a 7 day total of positive tests over 2,000.

Smittytheclown April 1, 2021 (6:49 am)

Statewide deaths now down to 7 a day using the 7-day moving average. This is down from a high in the mid-30’s in January. As more and more of those likely to die (65+) get vaccinated this will continue to decline. It might be time to start focusing on deaths, not cases as the typical two week “lag” between increased cases followed by increased deaths has been broken.

JJ April 1, 2021 (8:00 am)

I’m confused about the SPS school schedule. They’re only going back to in-person two afternoons a week? Elementary kids get 4 half-days. Doesn’t it make more sense to do what most other districts are doing–have all six classes a day, and go to school 2 days a week, the rest remote (unless a family chooses remote-only option). If about half choose remote only, the classes will be small enough. If it works for elementary, why can’t it work in the older grades? Enforce masks and have the kids walk to the right in the halls. Madison already has designated up and down staircases, so it can be done. I’m really disappointed if this is what the end result is.

Jethro Marx April 1, 2021 (11:48 am)

The city-run vaccine site by Sealth has said that those 65 and older do not need an appointment. NOT EVERYONE, but ONLY those 65 and older can show up and will get a vaccine on the spot. This is not conjecture or internet rumor, (well, I guess it sort of is now) but we have heard it directly from them. So if you are old, and still trying to refresh your browser endlessly and scramble and whatever, just go.

JJ April 1, 2021 (12:30 pm)

Whoever has chosen to use the name JJ, please select a different name, I had been using that for awhile, as there was already a J.The other JJ- I will be excited to send my child back to school when my entire family is vaccinated. I don’t agree that the science is in line with reopening before vaccinations. Spain recently shut down schools again because unvaccinated parents of school children were dying.Also, WSB, Can we post the vaccine assistance hotline with the updates for those that find scheduling by phone easier than by computer?

Donn April 1, 2021 (1:57 pm)

Anyone know why there have been no appointments available for a week now? – I have been checking on Seattle run vaccine sites.

CR April 1, 2021 (1:58 pm)

Use the Covidwa.com website. There were a bunch of appointment openings for the J+J vaccine when I booked one about 10 min ago.

Essential April 1, 2021 (7:46 pm)

What about essential workers who don’t work in medical fields, schools, food or other jobs specifically listed but have to work with people in person all year with limited ability to socially distance?Are they just being lumped in with the whole rest of the public who can work from home or isn’t working and can stay home?