Pandemic headlines as we conclude the first week of May:

COUNTY HEALTH OFFICER’S BRIEFING: Dr. Jeff Duchin said that after six weeks of increasing cases in King County, this past week saw a “slight decrease.” While the pandemic is “no longer a 5-alarm fire” locally, it “continues to burn,” he warned, and as more and more people get vaccinated, the better the chances are that it can be brought down to “smoldering” status. Watch his briefing, including media Q&A, here.

KING COUNTY NUMBERS: On to the daily stats from the Public Health daily-summary page, cumulative totals:

*100,485 people have tested positive, 347 more than yesterday’s total*

*1,536 people have died, 3 more than yesterday’s total

*5,926 people have been hospitalized, 2 more than yesterday’s total

*1,053,287 people have been tested, 2,257 more than yesterday’s total

NOTE: It appears yesterday’s startlingly high case total from King County was a typo of some kind on the county’s part – skipping that day and adding the “more than” totals from today and yesterday to the Wednesday total, the number is only slightly less than tonight’s total.

Continuing tonight’s report – our weekly check of key numbers on the COVID Vaccination Among King County Residents dashboard:

*1,248,950 people have received one dose (67.5% of everyone 16+)

*853,646 people have received both doses (46.1% of everyone 16+)

*1,888,395 doses have been allocated to King County (not counting pharmacy programs)

One week ago, the first four totals were 98,095/1,525/5,827/1,038,291, and the vaccination totals were 1,190,224/783,936/1,691,845.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 156.9 million cases, 3,270,000+ deaths – see the nation-by-nation numbers here.

CITY MILESTONE: 100,000 doses administered at the city-affiliated hubs, so the mayor delivered ice cream to the city-run hubs, including Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex:

GET VACCINATED THIS WEEKEND: You are still welcome to just walk into the city hubs, including that one here in WS (2801 SW Thistle), without an appointment. But you’re also welcome to lock in a spot by making one, first or second dose – you can do that here. WS is open Saturday, 9 am-4:30 pm, and Lumen Field is also open Saturday, 11:15 am-5:45 pm. Both are offering all three vaccines. (And if you want to find someplace else, here’s the covidwa.com lookup.)

GET FOOD: Here’s one more reminder about this food-box distribution Saturday afternoon.

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