Sunday night brings our weekly collection of local pandemic updates, starting with the newest numbers.

KING COUNTY CUMULATIVE NUMBERS (as of Friday – they’re not updated on weekends):

*155,326 people have tested positive – 3,044 more than a week ago (5,559 total in West Seattle, up 145)
*8,154 people have been hospitalized – 105 more than a week ago (242 total from West Seattle, unchanged)
*1,920 people have died – 25 more than a week ago (73 total in West Seattle, up 1)

VACCINATION RATE

81.4% of King County residents 12+ have completed their vaccine series (up 1% in the past week)

By West Seattle zip code (note: all zip codes have risen at least one full point since last week, more than previous weeks):
98106 – 83.3%
98116 – 87.2%
98126 – 79%
98136 – 89.2%
98146 – 78.7%

(Find more COVID-related King County stats here)

NOT VACCINATED YET?

Go here to see where you can change that.

THE WEEK’S PANDEMIC HEADLINES

County situation ‘improving’ – This week, King County Public Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin gave a briefing, saying rates are going down. and “The big-picture COVID-19 pandemic forecast is improving …” Watch the full briefing here:

Among the trends he mentioned: There’s been no increase in case rates among youths since in-person school began last month.

Seattle Public Schools cases – And indeed – this week, the dashboard showed a number of new cases comparable to the week before.

Still waiting – It’s now been almost two weeks since the city promised a new West Seattle site for boosters. We checked again this week – they’re not ready to say where yet. Meantime, no booster (or other) pop-up clinics announced in our area for the week ahead, so far. (If you know of any, westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!)

NEED TO GET TESTED IN WEST SEATTLE?

The UW Medicine testing service at the Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex parking lot (2801 SW Thistle) continues to operate; you can make an appointment here, though readers report walk-ups have been accepted. Meantime, the Curative testing kiosk at Don Armeni Boat Ramp (1222 Harbor SW) is also still operating. In addition, both West Seattle Walgreens stores are offering drive-up testing (35th/Morgan and 16th/Roxbury) – more info here.