West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Two notes today about home tests for COVID-19:
ONLINE ORDERING BEGINS FOR FREE TESTS: The federal government wasn’t expected to launch this until tomorrow but it’s up now. You can go here and order up to four home COVID tests per household to be mailed to you. Wondering what kind of tests? From the website:
The tests available for order:
-Are rapid antigen at-home tests, not PCR
-Can be taken anywhere
-Give results within 30 minutes (no lab drop-off required)
-Work whether or not you have COVID-19 symptoms
-Work whether or not you are up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines
-Are also referred to self-tests or over-the-counter (OTC) tests
The tests will take at least a week to arrive, the site says.
IF YOU’RE BUYING HOME TESTS … the state Attorney General’s Office has a warning for you about price-gouging. The office says it’s been receiving complaints including online ads offering tests for more than triple their retail price. You can file a price-gouging complaint about this or anything else by going here.
We were going to hold off on our entire weekly local pandemic roundup until tomorrow because of the holiday. Then we discovered that despite the holiday, Seattle Public Schools has posted its weekly dashboard update. (King County Public Health won’t have new numbers until tomorrow, so that’s when we’ll update the other local stats.) Districtwide, the cumulative SPS case total for this school year is now 3,590, 1,489 more than a week earlier. Here’s the local school-by-school breakout (as always, these totals also are cumulative):
Chief Sealth International High School – 77, up 44
Madison Middle School – 51, up 30
West Seattle High School – 44, up 5
West Seattle Elementary – 43, up 29
Arbor Heights Elementary – 40, up 18
Denny International Middle School – 40, up 8
Sanislo Elementary – 36, up 19
Louisa Boren STEM K-8 – 32, up 9
Pathfinder K-8 – 31, up 14
Genesee Hill Elementary – 31, up 14
Concord International (Elementary) – 28, up 13
Roxhill Elementary – 28, up 13
Fairmount Park Elementary – 27, up 9
Gatewood Elementary – 25, up 6
Alki Elementary – 23, up 4
Lafayette Elementary – 20, up 9
Highland Park Elementary – 15, up 1
BRIDGES @ Roxhill – 2, up 1
No schools in West Seattle have gone fully remote, though some classes have – the district doesn’t publicly announce changes for part of a school’s population, but we were forwarded a letter indicating that some classes at Pathfinder K-8 are all-remote right now until next Monday at the earliest.
Also tonight, the district has just published on its website what it titles “Response to SEA” (the educators’ union Seattle Education Association), in response to a new list of union requests. Those requests are similar to what we published last Thursday night after the Friday sickout closure of Chief Sealth International High School was announced. The requests include providing high-quality masks to all students and staff; the district says it will start distributing those to staff tomorrow, and that they’re on order for students. But otherwise, the two sides remain apart.
Two years into the pandemic, this remains a tough time in many ways. That includes people trying to help their kids cope with the ongoing challenges. That’s why the West Seattle High School PTSA is inviting you to an online presentation at 7 pm this Wednesday – you do NOT have to be a WSHS PTSA member or even a WSHS parent/guardian to attend:
WSHS PTSA Presents: “Parenting in a Pandemic: Reestablishing Parenting Foundations”
January 19th, 7-8:30 pm via Zoom with Sound Discipline facilitator, Jen GiomiThe pandemic has shaken our foundations and we know our kids are struggling. As we continue to navigate this pandemic and discover the myriad of effects on our lives and our children, it might be time to re-establish those parenting foundations.
Join Jen Giomi, Sound Discipline facilitator and WSHS parent, for a science based approach to guiding emotional-regulation and connection, using communication tools to de-escalate conflict, and foster cooperation in your home. It will be an interactive evening to learn and/or renew tools for kind and firm parenting.
You can get the link for attending by going here.
Every day this week, Seattle Public Schools has closed at least one school somewhere in the district because of a staffing shortage. So far, none have been in West Seattle. 
That’s changing for tomorrow (Friday, January 14th), when Chief Sealth International High School will be closed – no remote learning, just a full closure. Before the announcement – which attributes the closure to a “surge in staff sick-leave requests” – we received a letter that teachers say they sent the administration earlier in the day about what the teacher who forwarded it referred to as a planned “sickout”:
RE: COVID Conditions Collective Action
At a membership meeting on Wednesday, January 12, 2022, educators met to discuss safety concerns regarding the spread of COVID-19/Omicron in our school and community.
As a result of the meeting, members agreed the following conditions are necessary to maintain a safe, in-person learning environment:
1. N95 or KN95 masks required and made available for all staff and students
2. Mandatory weekly, on-site testing for staff and students
3. Resolve staffing shortages so staff are not asked to cover unfilled positions during their planning periods
4. District-wide mental health resources, or the funding thereof, will be made available for students, staff, and the communityIf the resources are not available for these conditions to be met, we propose a shift to remote learning until those conditions can be established or until the current surge is resolved.
Chief Sealth teachers say the plan received 75 percent approval at their meeting. We had asked the district for comment on the demands, but haven’t received a reply as of this evening. We also checked with the Seattle Education Association, which says it hasn’t been organizing a district-wide action – these are school-by-school actions. SEA says it is still talking with the district about further COVID-19 safety measures; spokesperson Julie Popper tells WSB, “SEA is in ongoing discussions with SPS about safety in the buildings, both for COVID safety and for staffing safety.”
ADDED 11:40 PM: One of the Sealth teachers we’ve heard from elaborates, “We sympathize with the challenges that this presents families and students but this was the only way that we, as a staff, felt that the district would listen to our concerns regarding safety. We did not take this action lightly but felt we had little recourse.” So far as of late tonight, this is the only closure announced in our area; elsewhere in the district, outside West Seattle/South Park, SPS has announced one other closure (Cleveland HS) and four schools going all-remote (Broadview-Thomson K-8, Olympic Hills Elementary, Mercer International MS, Meany MS) as of Friday.
This Saturday (January 15th), everyone is welcome at a socially distanced health event at Highland Park Elementary (1012 SW Trenton). HPES says it’s open to all ages. They’re offering COVID-19 vaccinations – 1st, 2nd, or booster shots – plus health screenings (glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure, BMI) and mammograms (call 800-756-5437 for an appointment). The health event also offers resources such as ORCA Lift cards and health-insurance signup help. A free food truck will be on site too. The event is scheduled for 11 am-3 pm Saturday; here’s the flyer.
11:34 AM: Seattle’s eviction moratorium – which was about to expire – will be extended another month. Mayor Bruce Harrell announced that decision this morning. He’s also continuing to suspend utility shutoffs for another 90 days, and continuing the suspension of “booting” parking-ticket scofflaws indefinitely. The eviction moratorium affects residential, small business, and nonprofit tenants and their landlords, and that will continue until February 14th. The mayor is also issuing an order telling city departments to collect data on effects of the moratorium, and to evaluate coordination of the types of relief that are available, among other big-picture steps. We’ll link the full announcement when it’s available.
1:13 PM: Here’s the announcement.
Families of 5-to-11-year-olds who are still looking for COVID-19 vaccination opportunities for their kids are invited to one this Saturday morning in West Seattle. 9 am-noon on Saturday (January 15th), Neighborhood Naturopathic (5410 California SW) is hosting a clinic for kids, and they don’t have to be current clinic patients. For those who get their first dose that day, a second-dose clinic is planned 9 am-noon February 5th. For an appointment, and/or if you have questions, call 206-486-8383.
Here’s our weekly update on local pandemic numbers, including the weekly Seattle Public Schools updates, just made public this evening, with results from the district’s recent mass testing. First, the countywide and local info:
KING COUNTY CUMULATIVE NUMBERS (through today):
*248,775 cases – 37,244 more than a week ago (9,245 total in West Seattle, up 1,330)
*9,750 hospitalizations – 438 more than a week ago (277 total from West Seattle, up 7)
*2,196 people have died – 31 more than the previous update (77 total in West Seattle, unchanged)
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS STATS
The SPS dashboard wasn’t updated until this evening, and it includes the results of the district-wide testing one week ago (SPS had said previously that about 4% of those tests were positive). Districtwide, the cumulative case total for this school year is 2,101, 807 more than a week earlier. Here’s the local school-by-school breakout (as always, these total also are cumulative):
West Seattle High School – 39, up 15
Chief Sealth International High School – 33, up 10
Denny International Middle School – 32, up 4
Louisa Boren STEM K-8 – 23, up 5
Arbor Heights Elementary – 22, up 7
Madison Middle School – 21, up 8
Alki Elementary – 19, up 13
Gatewood Elementary – 19, up 2
Fairmount Park Elementary – 18, up 6
Sanislo Elementary – 17, up 12
Pathfinder K-8 – 17, up 9
Genesee Hill Elementary – 17, up 3
Concord International (Elementary) – 15, up 6
Roxhill Elementary – 15, unchanged
West Seattle Elementary – 14, up 4
Highland Park Elementary – 14, unchanged
Lafayette Elementary – 11, up 1
BRIDGES @ Roxhill – 1, unchanged
The district’s newest pandemic-related message to families is here.
VACCINATION RATE
82.4% of King County residents 5+ have completed their vaccine series – up .5% from one week ago.
By West Seattle zip code – note that these numbers are still NOT available as 5+, so they reflect the percentage of 12+ population; the county has stopped calculating the boosted percentage, so we don’t have those numbers this time:
98106 – 88.5% completed series
98116 – 91.6% completed series
98126 – 83.5% completed series
98136 – 93.3% completed series
98146 – 83.8% completed series
(Find more COVID-related King County stats here.)
THE WEEK’S PANDEMIC HEADLINES
Boosters for teens and tweens – The recommendations for boosters expanded this week to include 12- to 17-year-olds.
Testing coverage – The White House has decreed how much COVID testing health-insurance providers must cover.
GETTING TESTED
-The city-sponsored, UW Medicine-run West Seattle testing site at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex (2801 SW Thistle) is limiting testing to symptomatic/exposed people. Appointments can be made here (if you find an opening).
–Curative continues operating two West Seattle testing locations – at Don Armeni Boat Ramp (1222 Harbor SW) and at Summit Atlas School (9601 35th SW)
GETTING VACCINATED
The city-run vaccination hub at Neighborhood House High Point (6400 Sylvan Way SW) continues Friday and Saturday operations; here’s where to look for an appointment. Pliable‘s Sunday clinics (same location) are on hiatus until January 30th.
We don’t have any way to verify this but if you’ve been looking for a booster shot, a reader just sent word that they got one as a walk-in at the Neighborhood House High Point (6400 Sylvan Way SW) city-run clinic today, and that they were told there’s room for more walk-ins. That could change before you get there but we didn’t want to let the potential opportunity go by unannounced – reader tips often yield the most accurate, up-to-date info on vaccination opportunities. The clinic is scheduled to be open until 4:30 pm.
6:07 PM: If you’re still looking for a 1st or 2nd dose of COVID-19 vaccine, note that the city-sponsored West Seattle clinic has appointments available, for kids, teens, and adults. We just checked after a city department tweeted about the availability. Start here. (Currently, no booster appointments are shown for any age group, though.)
6:28 PM: As pointed out in comments, Sunday’s Pliable-run West Seattle clinic also has appointments open.
We’ve moved this weekly update on local pandemic numbers and notes to Mondays, and we’re incorporating the weekly Seattle Public School updates.
KING COUNTY CUMULATIVE NUMBERS (through today):
*211,531 cases – 17,828 more than a week ago (7,915 total in West Seattle, up 877)
*9,312 hospitalizations – 233 more than a week ago (270 total from West Seattle, up 5)
*2,165 people have died – 12 more than the previous update (77 total in West Seattle, unchanged)
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS STATS
Today’s SPS dashboard update comes at the end of winter break, but the district has continued adding cases to its dashboard. Districtwide, the cumulative case total for this school year is 1,294, 100 more than a week earlier (and not including any of the testing done yesterday/today). Here’s the local school-by-school breakout (as always, the total is cumulative since the start of the school year):
Denny International Middle School – 28, up 2
West Seattle High School – 24, up 3
Chief Sealth International High School – 23, down 1 (data adjustment)
Louisa Boren STEM K-8 – 18, up 2
Gatewood Elementary – 17, up 3
Arbor Heights Elementary – 15, up 1
Roxhill Elementary – 15, unchanged
Genesee Hill Elementary – 14, unchanged
Highland Park Elementary – 14, unchanged
Madison Middle School – 13, up 1
Fairmount Park Elementary – 12, up 1
Lafayette Elementary – 10, unchanged
West Seattle Elementary – 10, unchanged
Concord International (Elementary) – 9, unchanged
Pathfinder K-8 – 8, unchanged
Alki Elementary – 6, up 1
Sanislo Elementary – 5, up 1
BRIDGES @ Roxhill – 1, unchanged
VACCINATION RATE
81.9% of King County residents 5+ have completed their vaccine series – up .6% from one week ago.
By West Seattle zip code – note that these numbers are still NOT available as 5+, so they reflect percentage of 12+ population:
98106 – 88.2% completed series, 40% had a booster dose too
98116 – 91.4% completed series, 52.7% had a booster dose too
98126 – 83.5% completed series, 44.2% had a booster dose too
98136 – 93.1% completed series, 56.7% had a booster dose too
98146 – 83.5% completed series, 35.6% had a booster dose too
(Find more COVID-related King County stats here.)
THE WEEK’S PANDEMIC HEADLINES
Test-site changes – The city-sponsored, UW Medicine-run West Seattle testing site at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex will, as of tomorrow (Tuesday, January 4th), limit testing to symptomatic/exposed people. Appointments can be made here (if you find an opening).
School-testing turnout – Both West Seattle middle schools were deluged for the three-hour testing period offered today. The district still plans to return to in-person classes tomorrow.
UPCOMING VACCINATION CLINIC
Pliable‘s clinic next Sunday at Neighborhood House High Point (6400 Sylvan Way SW) still has appointment openings as of this writing.
1:48 PM: That’s just part of the line for this afternoon’s voluntary Seattle Public Schools student COVID-19 testing at Denny International Middle School – it started at 1 pm and when we went by around 1:15, the line had already wrapped through the parking lot and halfway up the block along SW Kenyon. We also got a report that people in line at the other West Seattle site, Madison Middle School, were being told there would be a two-hour wait. To compound matters, though our photo was taken in the sunshine, sleet/snow has since swept through the area, followed by rain. The testing is supposed to continue until at least 4 pm. We’re also awaiting an update from the district on the resumption of classes tomorrow – there was word that superintendent Dr. Brent Jones was expected to speak to staff around 11 am but then that was postponed.
3:39 PM: The district added a brief update to its website, timestamped 3:30 pm – “All SPS COVID testing sites have reached testing capacity and are no longer taking additional guests.” Meantime, a commenter has shared the link of the aforementioned speech from the superintendent – see it here or below:
He reiterates that they’re planning to resume in-person classes tomorrow.
Local school notes for tomorrow (Monday, January 3rd):
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: As announced last week, no classes tomorrow – the district is offering voluntary COVID-19 testing to all students. Two locations in West Seattle, both 1-4 pm – Denny International Middle School (2601 SW Kenyon) and Madison Middle School (3429 45th SW). No appointments – families have been told that they’ll be given an approximate wait time upon arrival. Here’s the form to fill out.
HIGHLINE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: The district immediately south of West Seattle says all schools will start 2 hours late on Monday because of weather/road conditions.
VASHON ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT: Also because of weather/road conditions, all schools will be closed Monday. The plan for a 2.5-hour-late start to facilitate COVID-19 testing (explained here) is rescheduled to Tuesday.
Seattle Public Schools just sent an announcement reiterating that it plans to resume in-person classes after winter break – but the first day of classes will be Tuesday, after the district spends Monday offering COVID testing to all students and staff. Here’s the announcement:
No School for Students Monday, January 3
We are happy to announce that we now have 60,000 rapid antigen tests available for staff and students, which were provided by the Washington State Department of Health. In light of the surge in COVID-19 transmission in our community due to the Omicron virus, we’ll be using these tests to support a healthy return to school.
Seattle Public Schools will offer voluntary, universal testing for SPS staff and students on January 3.
This means there will be no school for SPS students on Monday, January 3. School will resume in-person on Tuesday. There will be no athletic practices. We encourage families to contact their child-care provider to determine if they will be open on Monday.
Our goal in providing wide-scale testing is to minimize the transmission of the Omicron virus and reduce intermittent disruptions to in-person learning. Because 80% to 90% of positive cases are asymptomatic, identifying them before, and quickly after, classes resume will reduce the spread of the virus in our schools.
Meals on Monday, January 3
Buildings will be open during normal hours for those students who need to access meal services. All schools will serve grab-and-go lunches between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. for student meals.
SPS will offer testing in West Seattle at two locations, Denny International Middle School (2601 SW Kenyon) and Madison Middle School (3429 45th SW), both 1-4 pm Monday (January 3rd), on a walk-up basis, More info, including the consent forms, are at the bottom of this district webpage. ADDED: The news release about this adds that after Monday, “Through the week, PCR testing and rapid antigen testing will be available for students and staff at their school.”
A temporary change in policy for UW Medicine, which is the provider for the city’s COVID-19 testing site in West Seattle, among others. Starting Tuesday, testing at these sites will only be available for people who have symptoms. Here’s the announcement:
Beginning January 4, 2022, UW Medicine will be prioritizing COVID-19 testing for people with appointments who have symptoms of respiratory illness or who have a known exposure to COVID-19. Testing for people without symptoms, including before and after travel or gatherings, will not be available due to the high volume of omicron cases that are being processed in our laboratory.
Because each positive sample must undergo additional testing, the recent surge in positive tests limits the total number of samples that we can handle. We apologize for this inconvenience and will continue to monitor testing capacity and adjust prioritization as this current surge of COVID-19 evolves.
Again, this affects UW Medicine’s community testing sites, including the one at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex in West Seattle. In a media briefing this morning, UW Medicine explained that with the additional testing that positive samples require, it can only handle about half its current volume in a timely manner. But they also say this could change quickly so they may be able to start testing asymptomatic people again soon.
That’s a photo from this month’s first pop-up vaccination clinic at the Community School of West Seattle, which reminds us today that they’re having another one this Sunday (January 2nd), open to all. “All doses, all types, 5 years and up, walk-ins welcome,” says Whitney Young of CSWS. It’s set for 3 pm-6 pm Sunday, 9450 22nd SW. Here’s the flyer.
Our weekly update on local pandemic numbers and notes is moving to Mondays for at least this week and next since the holidays are changing the county’s update schedule. That means this update contains 10 days of data, compared to the 7 days in our previous update:
KING COUNTY CUMULATIVE NUMBERS (through today):
*193,703 cases – 14,309 more than the data through 12/17 in our previous update (7,038 total in West Seattle, up 668)
*9,079 hospitalizations – 142 more than the previous update (265 total from West Seattle, up 3)
*2,153 people have died – 17 more than the previous update (77 total in West Seattle, up 1)
TRENDS
Go to the county’s dashboard page for a look at the graphs – while cases are up sharply, hospitalizations have risen at a lower rate, and deaths are down. That bears out in the West Seattle-specific stats – in particular, while the case numbers have jumped, the hospitalization rate has not increased nearly as much.
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS STATS
Though school has been out for a week, the district added cases to its dashboard for the weekly update today, so we are incorporating the local breakout here. Districtwide, since last Monday, the cumulative case total for this school year is 1,194, 116 more than a week earlier. 23 of the new cases are in the Southwest (West Seattle/South Park) region. Here’s the local school-by-school breakout (as always, the total is cumulative since the start of the school year):
Denny International Middle School – 26, unchanged
Chief Sealth International High School – 24, unchanged
West Seattle High School – 21, up 10
Louisa Boren STEM K-8 – 16, up 5
Roxhill Elementary – 15, unchanged
Gatewood Elementary – 14, up 2
Highland Park Elementary – 14, unchanged
Genesee Hill Elementary – 14, unchanged
Arbor Heights Elementary – 14, unchanged
Madison Middle School – 12, up 1
Fairmount Park Elementary – 11, up 4
West Seattle Elementary – 10, unchanged
Lafayette Elementary – 10, unchanged
Concord International (Elementary) – 9, unchanged
Pathfinder K-8 – 8, unchanged
Alki Elementary – 6, up 1
Sanislo Elementary – 4, unchanged
BRIDGES @ Roxhill – 1, unchanged
VACCINATION RATE
81.3% of King County residents 5+ have completed their vaccine series – up .4% from our previous update
By West Seattle zip code – note that these numbers are still NOT available as 5+, so they reflect percentage of 12+ population:
98106 – 87.7% completed series, 36% had a booster dose too
98116 – 91% completed series, 47% had a booster dose too
98126 – 83% completed series, 40.1% had a booster dose too
98136 – 92.6% completed series, 51.3% had a booster dose too
98146 – 83.2% completed series, 32.3% had a booster dose too
(Find more COVID-related King County stats here.)
THE WEEK’S PANDEMIC HEADLINES
Quarantine/isolation recommendation changes – Expecting a wave of asymptomatic cases, the CDC has changed its recommendations for quarantine and isolation – here are the details.
New WANotify feature for home testers – If you test positive with a home kit, now you can enter that into the app that will anonymously notify users that they’ve been exposed.
NEED TO GET TESTED IN WEST SEATTLE?
The UW Medicine testing service in the Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex parking lot (2801 SW Thistle) continues to operate; you can make an appointment here. Readers report that waiting time is long and walk-ups have been turned away. Meantime, the Curative testing kiosk at Don Armeni Boat Ramp (1222 Harbor SW) is also still operating (no availabilities are shown right now until next Monday), though readers report it was not staffed today (likely because of the weather). Curative’s Summit Atlas location is shown as reopening Tuesday, January 4th.
Two pandemic notes tonight:
SCHOOL DISTRICT UPDATE: In the middle of the first week of the two-week winter break, an update from Seattle Public Schools, sent to families and published on the district website:
Our plan is to reopen schools as scheduled on Monday, January 3.
That said, we are also preparing for the possibility that some classrooms, and perhaps some schools, will have to go remote at some point in January.
Uncertainty at any time is challenging, but no more so than now, after the stress and anxiety of the last several weeks. We are sharing this information with you now so you can be as ready as possible should your child need to switch to remote learning.
Along with vaccinations/boosters, the district is recommending that students get a COVID test before school resumes.
TEST-SITE FYI: Speaking of testing, we’ve heard this from multiple readers – though the website for the Curative kiosk at Don Armeni Boat Ramp says walk-ups are welcome, readers report having been turned away without an appointment. Right now, the next appointment availability on the website isn’t until next Monday. The city/UW Medicine testing site at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex, however, is showing open testing appointments on Friday.
West Seattle/South Park has 21 new cases reported in this week’s update of the COVID-19 dashboard for Seattle Public Schools. That’s more than three times the number a week earlier; 135 new cases were reported districtwide – students and staff – since last week’s update – twice as many new cases as the week before. Here’s the local school-by-school breakout (as always, the total is cumulative since the start of the school year):
Denny International Middle School – 26, up 2
Chief Sealth International High School – 24, up 4
Roxhill Elementary – 15, unchanged
Highland Park Elementary – 14, up 1
Genesee Hill Elementary – 14, unchanged
Arbor Heights Elementary – 14, unchanged
Gatewood Elementary – 12, up 3
West Seattle High School – 11, up 5
Louisa Boren STEM K-8 – 11, up 1
Madison Middle School – 11, unchanged
West Seattle Elementary – 10, up 1
Lafayette Elementary – 10, unchanged
Concord International (Elementary) – 9, unchanged
Pathfinder K-8 – 8, up 2
Fairmount Park Elementary – 7, up 2
Alki Elementary – 5, unchanged
Sanislo Elementary – 4, unchanged
BRIDGES @ Roxhill – 1, unchanged
The district does not break out the school-by-school numbers by teachers/staff; districtwide, SPS says, 88 percent of the cases were among students, 12 percent staff.
The city has announced the holiday plans for its vaccine clinics and testing sites in West Seattle (and elsewhere). The city-run West Seattle vaccine clinic at Neighborhood House High Point is closed until January 7th, according to today’s announcement, But the testing site at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex will stay open regular hours except for Christmas Day; the city says the Curative testing kiosks will stay open too – the online schedule for the one at Don Armeni Boat Ramp is open through Thursday this week, Monday-Thursday next week. Appointments are now recommended for all locations.
P.S. The website for independent West Seattle-based health-care service Pliable shows appointments open for West Seattle vaccine clinics on Sunday, December 26th, and Sunday, January 9th, both at Neighborhood House HP (6400 Sylvan Way SW).
Here’s our weekly update on local pandemic numbers and notes:
KING COUNTY CUMULATIVE NUMBERS (through Friday, since they’re not updated on weekends):
*179,394 cases – 2,946 more than one week ago (6,370 total in West Seattle, up 120)
*8,937 hospitalizations – 54 more than one week ago (262 total from West Seattle, up 3)
*2,136 people have died – 11 more than one week ago (76 total in West Seattle, unchanged)
VACCINATION RATE
80.9% of King County residents 5+ have completed their vaccine series – up 1% from one week ago
By West Seattle zip code – note that these numbers are still NOT available as 5+, so they reflect percentage of 12+ population:
98106 – 87.7% completed series, 33.2% had a booster dose too
98116 – 90.7% completed series, 43.2% had a booster dose too
98126 – 82.8% completed series, 37% had a booster dose too
98136 – 92.4% completed series, 47.5% had a booster dose too
98146 – 83% completed series, 30.1% had a booster dose too
(Find more COVID-related King County stats here.)
THE WEEK’S PANDEMIC HEADLINES
Omicron – Health authorities warned this week that case numbers are likely to rise rapidly as this new variant spreads. Public Health-Seattle King County also notes:
The severity of Omicron cases is still not clear. Most vaccinated people should be protected from severe infection, but we expect to see many more serious cases in unvaccinated people, as well as many milder breakthrough infections among the vaccinated.
Public Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin led a briefing on Friday – here’s the video, which starts with a briefing by researcher Dr. Trevor Bedford:
The PHSKC news release includes advice on staying safe.
J&J vaccine no longer recommended – If you are just now getting vaccinated, state and federal health officials are now recommending the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines over the one-dose J&J vaccine, although the latter will remain available. The concern about the J&J vaccine involves a side effect, which health officials nonetheless stress remains rare – 54 cases nationwide out of 14 million people who received that vaccine.
Lots of stats – For everyone interested in all the details, the state Health Department released these reports this week – cases among children/youth (here); cases, hospitalizations, and deaths by vaccination status (here); morbidity and mortality by race, ethnicity and spoken language (here); sequencing and variants in Washington State (here); Vaccine Breakthrough Surveillance and Case Information Resource (here).
NEED TO GET TESTED IN WEST SEATTLE?
The UW Medicine testing service in the Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex parking lot (2801 SW Thistle) continues to operate; you can make an appointment here. Meantime, the Curative testing kiosk at Don Armeni Boat Ramp (1222 Harbor SW) is also still operating, as is a Curative location at Summit Atlas (35th/Roxbury). In addition, both West Seattle Walgreens stores are offering drive-up testing (35th/Morgan and 16th/Roxbury) – more info here. (We’ll be checking this. week on holiday hours at the main test sites.)
West Seattle/South Park has eight new cases reported in this week’s update of the COVID-19 dashboard for Seattle Public Schools. That’s out of 67 new cases districtwide – students and staff – since last week’s update. Here’s the local school-by-school breakout (as always, the total is cumulative since the start of the school year):
Denny International Middle School – 24, unchanged
Chief Sealth International High School – 20, unchanged
Roxhill Elementary – 15, unchanged
Genesee Hill Elementary – 14, up 3
Arbor Heights Elementary – 14, up 1
Highland Park Elementary – 13, unchanged
Madison Middle School – 11, unchanged
Louisa Boren STEM K-8 – 10, unchanged
Lafayette Elementary – 10, unchanged
Concord International (Elementary) – 9, up 1
West Seattle Elementary – 9, up 1
Gatewood Elementary – 9, unchanged
Pathfinder K-8 – 6, up 1
West Seattle High School – 6, unchanged
Fairmount Park Elementary – 5, unchanged
Alki Elementary – 5, unchanged
Sanislo Elementary – 4, unchanged
BRIDGES @ Roxhill – 1, unchanged
Here’s our weekly update on local pandemic numbers and notes:
KING COUNTY CUMULATIVE NUMBERS (through Friday, since they’re not updated on weekends):
*176.448 cases – 1,900 more than one week ago (6,250 total in West Seattle, up 80)
*8,883 hospitalizations – 55 more than one week ago (259 total from West Seattle, down 1 [data adjustment])
*2,125 people have died – 25 more than one week ago (76 total in West Seattle, up 1)
VACCINATION RATE
(As of three weeks ago, King County started making stats available for ages 5+, so we switched to that stat:)
79.9% of King County residents 5+ have completed their vaccine series – up 1.7% from one week ago
By West Seattle zip code – note that these numbers are still NOT available as 5+, so they reflect 12+:
98106 – 87.4%
98116 – 90.4%
98126 – 82.5%
98136 – 91.9%
98146 – 82.5%
(Find more COVID-related King County stats here)
THE WEEK’S PANDEMIC HEADLINES
Boosters – As of Thursday, our state recommends them for everyone 16 and up.
No kid shots at city’s WS clinic – The city dropped the West Seattle provider that could handle all ages, and is looking for someone who can handle pediatric shots – until then, no kids at the Friday/Saturday clinic.
NEED TO GET TESTED IN WEST SEATTLE?
The UW Medicine testing service in the Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex parking lot (2801 SW Thistle) continues to operate; you can make an appointment here. Meantime, the Curative testing kiosk at Don Armeni Boat Ramp (1222 Harbor SW) is also still operating, as is a Curative location at Summit Atlas (35th/Roxbury). In addition, both West Seattle Walgreens stores are offering drive-up testing (35th/Morgan and 16th/Roxbury) – more info here.
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