West Seattle, Washington
15 Sunday
The vaccination situation brightens, as we start tonight’s pandemic headlines:
ANOTHER VACCINE: In case you missed it in the national news, the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine got an encouraging review today and is on its way to a final FDA decision, likely within days.
GETTING VACCINATED: More advice from readers – they point out that Sea Mar clinics are now vaccinating on a walk-in basis; read their policies here, as well as updates on where vaccine is available.
NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: Now, from the Seattle-King County Public Health daily-summary dashboard, the cumulative totals:
*81,525 people have tested positive, 146 more than yesterday’s total
*1,365 people have died, 8 more than yesterday’s total
*5,090 people have been hospitalized, 7 more than yesterday’s total
*896,855 people have been tested, 1,854 more than yesterday’s total
One week ago, the four totals we track were 80,157/1,320/5,021/882,196.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them, county by county, on the state Department of Health page,.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: See them, nation by nation, here.
RETURNING TO IN-PERSON LEARNING: The state released a new modeling report today. The description:
This new analysis by IDM entitled “Stepping Back to School” uses a detailed computer model of COVID‐19 to explore the interplay between disease transmission inside and outside schools in three steps: 1) introduction to school, 2) spread within school, and 3) exportation from schools. This step‐by‐step approach enables new insights into risks and mitigation strategies that could be applied to different schools and community contexts here in Washington State and elsewhere.
Read the full report here.
(updated) TWO BRIEFINGS THURSDAY: At 9:30 am, state health officials present their weekly pandemic briefing; you can watch here … Then at 3:30 pm, Gov. Inslee will brief the media and answer Q&A on the pandemic response. You can watch live here.
GOT INFO? Email us at westseattleblog@gmail.com or phone us, text or voice, at 206-293-6302 – thank you!
Tonight’s pandemic notes:
NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: Checking today’s daily summary from Seattle-King County Public Health – the cumulative totals:
*81,379 people have tested positive, 102 more than yesterday’s total
*1,357 people have died, 12 more than yesterday’s total
*5,083 people have been hospitalized, 1 more than yesterday’s total
*895,001 people have been tested, 2,481 more than yesterday’s total
One week ago, the totals were 80.317/1,321/5,008/879,299.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
NATIONAL/WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 112.1 million cases worldwide, 28.2 million of them in the U.S. – see other nation-by-nation stats by going here.
ANOTHER VARIANT: From the state Health Department:
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) along with Public Heath – Seattle & King County and the UW Medicine Virology Lab, announce that the B.1.351 variant of SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in King County, WA.
The variant, initially identified in South Africa, was identified yesterday through genomic sequencing at the UW Medicine Virology Laboratory. The patient tested positive for COVID-19 on January 29, 2021. Other details about the case, including travel history are not available as the person was not able to be reached through contact tracing efforts.
At the same time, a virology lab found evidence of 19 additional cases of the B.1.1.7 variant strain in Washington state. First identified in the United Kingdom, this brings the total number of known cases of the B.1.1.7 variant in Washington state to 39. Currently, there are no confirmed cases of the P.1 variant that originated in Brazil.
So why does this matter? The announcement quotes King County Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin as saying, “The B.1.1.7 variant can spread more readily and B.1.351 viruses might reduce vaccine effectiveness.”
VACCINATION SITUATION: Karen emailed today to say she got an appointment at a South King County pharmacy through the volunteer-run covidwa.com – so if you’re still searching, and up for traveling, that might be your breakthrough.
GOT SOMETHING TO REPORT? westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302, text/voice – thank you!
If you’re in need of a COVID-19 test today, one more option – a public pop-up presented by Neighborcare and Seattle Housing Authority at Longfellow Creek Apartments, 5915 Delridge Way SW. They tell us all are welcome – just show up and they’ll register you. If you have health insurance that covers it, they’ll bill it, but if not, the test is free. This is continuing until 4 pm today; here’s the flyer.
School news tops tonight’s pandemic headlines:
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS’ START DATE DELAYED: No deal yet between the district and the Seattle Education Association, so the original March 1st restart date for some in-person education is now pushed back at least one week.
GOVERNOR TO VISIT SCHOOL: Gov. Inslee is pushing for more kids to get back into classrooms, and on Tuesday he’ll tour an elementary school in Spokane “to see how a return to class under COVID-19 restrictions is working for students and educators.”
NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: Here are the key points of the daily summary from Seattle-King County Public Health:
*81.277 people have tested positive, 102 more than yesterday’s total
*1,345 people have died, unchanged since Friday
*5,082 people have been hospitalized, 10 more than yesterday’s total
*892,520 people have been tested, 4,179 more than yesterday’s total
One week ago, those totals were 80,303/1,321/5,001/877,501.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 111.7 million cases, 2,474,000+ deaths – and the U.S. has passed half a million. See the other stats – nation by nation – here.
VACCINATION SITUATION: No new local opportunities announced today/tonight; we checked the lookup sites, nothing open there either.
NEED FOOD? This week’s nearest Food Lifeline distribution is 2-5 pm Friday (February 26th) at 815 S. 96th.
GOT SOMETHING TO REPORT? westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302, text/voice – thank you!
Seattle Public Schools promised an update today on the status of returning thousands of students to in-person learning next month. Here’s the promised update:
On December 17, the SPS School Board directed staff to begin implementing plans for a phased increase of in-person instruction for students enrolled in Special Education Intensive Service Pathways beginning second semester and no later than March 1 and for preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade students on March 1.
Central office staff have been preparing for many months. Health and safety protocols have been implemented, Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) is in place, and the district has prepared for student transportation and meals.
An increase of in-person instruction also requires we negotiate new working conditions with Seattle Education Association. Unfortunately, we don’t yet have an agreement with SEA. To begin phasing in students on March 1, we needed an agreement by Monday, February 22. Without an agreement, the in-person return date has been delayed until at least March 8.
Staff continue to prioritize the phased return of students in Special Education Intensive Service Pathways first, followed by students in PreK-1 grade.
A special Board Meeting will be held on February 25 from 4-5:30 p.m. to discuss next steps and take action on the OSPI required Washington School’s 2020-21 Reopening Progress Report Template. Families and staff are encouraged to watch or listen to the board work session. (See the agenda here.) The meeting will be broadcast on television or can be viewed on the SPS TV YouTube channel. To listen by phone, dial 206-800-4125 and use Conference ID 931 417 102#.
District staff are committed to continuing negotiations in good faith. SPS has requested mediation support from the Public Employment Relations Commission to help facilitate a timely resolution. PERC is impartial and will help the district and the union explore solutions that lead to a mutual agreement. At this time, Seattle Education Association has declined mediation services.
You can review the most current bargaining update, the district’s proposal to SEA, including a racial equity analysis, on the Bargaining webpage.
The union’s updates, meantime, are here. More recent than those posts is this video update from bargaining-team members. (added) SEA also has just responded to the SPS statement with a Twitter thread, saying in part, “The District’s inability to implement needed health and safety protocols is delaying return to in-person learning.”
The county’s data dashboard skipped the Saturday update again this weekend, so we start with two days’ data:
KING COUNTY’S NEWEST NUMBERS: Here are the Sunday numbers from the King County daily-summary dashboard:
*81,175 people have tested positive, 316 more than Friday’s total
*1,345 people have died, unchanged from Friday’s total
*5,072 people have been hospitalized, 10 more than Friday’s total
*888,341 people have been tested, 880 more than Friday’s total
One week ago, the King County totals were 80,144/1,321/4,997/877,293.
WEST SEATTLE TRENDS: Here’s our weekly check of this stat – on Sunday again this time, since the county didn’t update its dashboards Saturday – with numbers shown in two-week increments via the “geography over time” tab on the daily-summary dashboard, combining the totals from the West Seattle and Delridge “health reporting areas” (HRAs). For the past two weeks, 66 positive test results; 115 in the 2 weeks before that; 240 in the two weeks before that. … We also are noting WS death totals each week. The total deaths for the entire pandemic in the two HRAs comprising West Seattle: 60, unchanged from a week ago.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 111.3 million cases and 2,466,000+ deaths, 498,000+ of them in the U.S. – see the nation-by-nation breakdown here.
VACCINATION SITUATION: As reported earlier this evening, there’s a limited-space clinic for people 65+ in West Seattle next Friday/Saturday … We just checked the lists on both the official state Vaccine Locator and the unofficial covidwa.com, nothing else showing as available in our area right now.
GOT SOMETHING TO REPORT? westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302, text/voice – thank you!
Thanks to Ann for the tip: The city and UW Medicine are having a COVID-19 vaccination clinic in West Seattle next Friday and Saturday (February 26-27). She just forwarded the announcement, which says in part:
This Friday and Saturday, the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) will administer the first dose of the Moderna vaccine to roughly 600 eligible people ages 65 and older who live in the West Seattle and South Park area. While supply remains constrained, SFD will focus its limited doses on older adults who live in areas that have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 virus.
The clinic will be held at the city’s testing site, in the Southwest Athletic Complex parking lot at 2801 SW Thistle. Appointment required; here’s the link in the announcement. We have no way of knowing how many spots remain, but if you’re eligible, good luck.
For the second consecutive Saturday, King County Public Health has not updated its COVID-19 “daily summary” dashboard, so we have no roundup tonight. As we did last week, we’ll include the West Seattle trends – which we’ve been updating on Saturdays – in the next roundup.
It’s a big question: “How has COVID-19 impacted you and your community?” A competition is about to open for youth making art in three categories – media, visual, writing – addressing that theme. The organization presenting it is Mission InspirEd, “a high-school-student-run, Seattle-based education nonprofit” which explains that “to tackle education disparity, we organize free classes, tutoring, seminars, and more, and have impacted more than 2000 K-12 students.” They want to reach as many Seattle-area students as possible, so they asked us to share the announcement. The competition is Tales of Quarantine, for students 6-18, with the opportunity to win up to $1,000. It starts this Monday; read the rules and meet the judges by going here.
51 weeks have now passed since the Friday night when the first King County case of COVID-19 was announced. Here are tonight’s updates:
KING COUNTY NUMBERS: Some data corrections in tonight’s stats from the Public Health daily-summary page, cumulative totals:
*80,859 people have tested positive, 224 more than yesterday’s total
*1,345 people have died, 14 more than yesterday’s total
*5,062 people have been hospitalized, 20 more than yesterday’s total
*887,461 people have been tested, 2,907 more than yesterday’s total
Now, our weekly check of key numbers on the COVID Vaccination Among King County Residents dashboard:
*301,938 people have received one dose
*125,444 people have received both doses
*466,575 doses have been allocated to King County
One week ago, the first four totals were 79,681/1,318/4,955/871,404, and the vaccination totals were 266,573/85,033/374,825.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 110.7 million cases, 2,452,000+ deaths – see the nation-by-nation numbers here.
IF YOU NEED TESTING SATURDAY: The city’s West Seattle test site (2801 SW Thistle) continues to be open on Saturdays.
COUNTY HEALTH OFFICER’S BRIEFING: Dr. Jeff Duchin led his weekly briefing/media Q&A – here’s the video:
He offered his theories about the falling case numbers as well as discussing the vaccination situation, including reassuring people that if their second-dose appointments had to be rescheduled because of delivery delays, they’ll be OK even if it takes a few more weeks. Meantime, though numbers are dropping, he stressed, “We can’t let our foot off the pedal” – precautions to stop the spread remain imperative.
GOVERNOR’S REMARKS: No big news, and most of his media event today was spent on bill-signing, but Gov. Inslee did answer a few pandemic questions – here’s the video.
NEED FOOD? One more reminder, the Greater Seattle Fil-Am SDA Church has free food boxes in West Seattle tomorrow, 2 pm-4 pm, 2620 SW Kenyon.
GOT INFO OR PHOTOS? westseattleblog@gmail.com or text/voice 206-293-6302 – thank you!
Here’s what’s new in the pandemic:
NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Public Health daily-summary dashboard, here are today’s cumulative totals:
*80,635 people have tested positive, 178 more than yesterday’s total
*1,331 people have died, 2 more than yesterday’s total
*5,042 people have been hospitalized, 21 more than yesterday’s total
*884,554 people have been tested, 2,358 more than yesterday’s total
One week ago, the four totals we track were 79,233/1,305/4,958/867,522.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them, county by county, on the state Department of Health page.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 110.3 million cases worldwide, 27.8 million of them in the U.S. See the nation-by-nation breakout here.
VACCINATION CLINIC: We – along with the mayor and others – visited a pop-up clinic in West Seattle today.
VACCINE DELAY: If you had an appointment canceled or postponed this week, it might be because the winter storms hitting much of the country have affected vaccine shipments.
VACCINATION NUMBERS: During the weekly briefing by state health officials today, they highlighted the latest statewide vaccination report. Toplines: 1.2 million doses have been administered. They’re averaging 26,000 a day. 83 percent of the doses the state has received have been given. But the allotment from the feds is still less than half what providers are requesting.
VACCINE MAP: The map on the state website has a new look, and now it shows one potential West Seattle location, the Junction QFC.
NEED FOOD? 2-5 pm tomorrow at Food Lifeline (815 S. 96th) HQ, it’s the weekly distribution of emergency food boxes. … Also, the Greater Seattle Filipino-American SDA Church will distribute food boxes 2-4 pm Saturday, 2620 SW Kenyon.
GOT PHOTOS/TIPS? 206-293-6302, text or voice, or westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
3:51 PM: Today the city’s COVID-19 test site in the Southwest Athletic Complex parking lot doubled as a vaccination site. As mentioned in our pandemic-news roundup last night, the city joined with community-partner organizations El Comité, Villa Comunitaria, the Senior Center of West Seattle, and the Seattle Housing Authority to set up a “pop-up” clinic. As with the test site – which has administered more than 71,000 tests since opening in August – the shots were given by firefighters, including West Seattle resident Roger Webber:
Media were invited for a briefing with Mayor Jenny Durkan, Fire Chief Harold Scoggins, City Councilmember Lisa Herbold, and community-org reps including Senior Center of WS director Amy Lee Derenthal (below left).
The mayor reiterated the commitment she had made to Herbold, that the city will open a mass vaccination site in West Seattle (as well as others around the city) when vaccine supplies allow. They’re receiving a sliver of the regional allotment so far – in the coming week, for example, 1,500 first doses and 1,000 second doses. SFD personnel also continue traveling as mobile teams to facilities such as adult-care homes. The pop-up clinic was focused on high-risk older Latinx residents from West Seattle and South Park, the city explains, noting that, “In King County, Latinx residents make up 24.1% of confirmed COVID-19 cases and 17.7% of hospitalizations, despite making up 10% of King County’s population.” Seattle Channel recorded today’s briefing; we’ll add their video when it’s available.
4:27 PM: Added.
The latest on the pandemic:
NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Seattle-King County Public Health daily-summary dashboard, the cumulative totals:
*80,157 people have tested positive, 140 more than yesterday’s total
*1,320 people have died, 8 more than yesterday’s total
*5,021 people have been hospitalized, 13 more than yesterday’s total
*882,196 people have been tested, 2,397 more than yesterday’s total
One week ago, the four totals we track were 79,167/1,305/4,942/867,433.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them, county by county, on the state Department of Health page,.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: See them, nation by nation, here.
WEEKLY HEALTH BRIEFING TOMORROW: State health officials present their weekly update and answer media questions at 9 am tomorrow; watch it live here.
VACCINE WEBINAR: Got questions about vaccine eligibility and distribution? The state is offering a webinar at 5 pm tomorrow. Here’s the info, including how to attend.
CITY CLINICS: The city is continuing to get a limited number of doses and says its next round will include pop-up clinics in West Seattle, South Park, and South Seattle, with outreach being handled by El Comite, Villa Comunitaria, the Senior Center of West Seattle, and Seattle Housing Authority.
GOT INFO? Email us at westseattleblog@gmail.com or phone us, text or voice, at 206-293-6302 – thank you!
Eleven months after the governor closed schools, he saye it’s safe for them to be open, and that tops tonight’s pandemic news:
BACK TO SCHOOLS? Gov. Inslee‘s briefing this afternoon (see it here) started with his declaration that it’s safe for schools to reopen – with proper protocols, of course. He spotlighted a company that’s helping dozens of districts expand COVID-19 testing to enable opening safely and staying open safely. (More on that here.) Inslee noted that 200,000 students around the state are already getting some in-person instruction.
VACCINATION ACCELERATION: The governor also said the federal government is sending additional doses of vaccine next week, and touted the state’s continuing improvement in the percentage of doses that have been administered – now up to 81 percent, he said, 12th-highest percentage among the 50 states.
NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: Here’s the update from today’s daily summary from Seattle-King County Public Health – the cumulative totals, although note the data for the first stat is somewhat off tonight:
*80.317 people have tested positive, 14 more than yesterday’s total [NOTE: The county says today’s low case counts “may reflect ongoing efforts by (the state) to remove duplicates” after reporting that the statewide counts over the weekend “may have included up to 700 duplicates”]
*1,321 people have died, unchanged since Sunday
*5,008 people have been hospitalized, 7 more than yesterday’s total
*879,299 people have been tested, 2,298 more than yesterday’s total
One week ago, the totals were 78,981/1,300/4,919/863,266.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
NATIONAL/WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 109.5 million cases worldwide, 27.7 million of them in the U.S. – see other nation-by-nation stats by going here.
QFC BAGGING TWO STORES: Grocery megacorporation Kroger says it’ll close two Seattle QFC stores, on Capitol Hill and in Wedgwood, because of the city’s mandate for “hazard pay.” Capitol Hill Seattle notes that the store on the Hill is on a future redevelopment site anyway; a Kroger spokesperson told KING 5 the two stores were “underperforming.” City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda calls the decision “beyond disappointing.” Grocery-workers union UFCW Local 21 calls it “corporate bullying.”
GOT SOMETHING TO REPORT? westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302, text/voice – thank you!
We conclude tonight with the latest pandemic info:
NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: Here are the key points of the daily summary from Seattle-King County Public Health:
*80,303 people have tested positive, 159 more than yesterday’s total
*1,321 people have died, unchanged from yesterday’s total
*5,001 people have been hospitalized, 4 more than yesterday’s total
*877,501 people have been tested, 208 more than yesterday’s total
One week ago, those totals were 78,863/1,299/4,909/862,969.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 106.4 million cases, 2,324,000+ deaths. See the other stats – nation by nation – here.
MAYOR’S PROMISE: Mayor Jenny Durkan delivered a startlingly short State of the City address tonight – 6 1/2 minutes – focused on the pandemic and recovering from it, declaring that “we are writing the final chapters of this generational challenge.”
GOVERNOR’S BRIEFING TOMORROW: 2:30 pm Tuesday; the live stream will be here.
BACK TO SCHOOLS? Here’s how the Seattle Public Schools family survey turned out.
NEED FOOD? This week’s nearest Food Lifeline distribution is 2-5 pm Friday (February 19th) at 815 S. 96th.
GOT SOMETHING TO REPORT? westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302, text/voice – thank you!
This week is midwinter break for Seattle Public Schools – no classes, remote or otherwise. By early next week, the district has promised an update on the plan to offer in-person learning again for preschoolers through 1st graders, as well as special-education students on “intensive pathways.” The district has also finally released full results of its survey of families whose students are eligible to return to school buildings. They’re published here. The survey was open January 5th-19th; the district reports that of the 10,742 eligible students, 46.8 percent of families said they want their student to return to in-person learning, 40.9 percent preferred to continue remote learning, and 12.3 percent did not respond. Breaking the results into demographic groups, SPS says white families had the highest support for in-person learning, 56 percent, while Asian families had the highest support for continuing remote learning, also 56 percent. The district also surveyed staff and says 30 percent want to continue working remotely. The district says the responses from families and staff “were used to develop proposed instructional models and create sample illustrative schedules that have been proposed to Seattle Education Association in the ongoing negotiations.” A separate district update says those negotiations are continuing this week and that the district has requested a mediator’s help. (Here’s the union’s own latest update.) Once an agreement is reached, the district says, it will survey families again.
After skipping a day, the county’s data dashboard updated today, so we have two days’ data:
KING COUNTY’S NEWEST NUMBERS: Today’s numbers from the King County daily-summary dashboard:
*80,144 people have tested positive, 463 more than Friday’s total
*1,321 people have died, 3 more than Friday’s total
*4,997 people have been hospitalized, 42 more than Friday’s total
*877,293 people have been tested, 5,889 more than Friday’s total
One week ago, the King County totals were 78,686/1,299/4,902/855,745.
WEST SEATTLE TRENDS: Here’s our weekly check of this stat – delayed a day since the county didn’t update its dashboards Saturday – with numbers shown in two-week increments via the “geography over time” tab on the daily-summary dashboard, combining the totals from the West Seattle and Delridge “health reporting areas” (HRAs). For the past two weeks, 76 positive test results; 136 in the 2 weeks before that; 295 in the two weeks before that. … We also are noting WS death totals each week; using the HRAs, since they are the most precise count. The total deaths for the entire pandemic in the two HRAs comprising West Seattle: 60, one more than a week ago.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 108.8 million cases and 2,399,000+ deaths, 485,000+ of them in the U.S. – see the nation-by-nation breakdown here.
TESTING TOMORROW: The West Seattle test site in the Southwest Athletic Complex parking lot (2801 SW Thistle) is scheduled to be open Monday.
MAYOR’S LAST ‘STATE OF THE CITY’ ADDRESS: Tomorrow, Mayor Jenny Durkan will give her last State of the City address, with the pandemic expected to be the central focus, especially current concerns over equitable vaccine distribution. Seattle Channel will stream the speech live at 5:05 pm Monday.
GOT SOMETHING TO REPORT? westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302, text/voice – thank you!
King County did not update its data dashboard today – no explanation, so we don’t know if it was because of the snow, or some other problem – so we’ll try again Sunday night, and will include the weekly West Seattle trend check if updated data is available.
50 weeks have now passed since the Friday night when the first King County case of COVID-19 was announced. Here are tonight’s updates:
KING COUNTY NUMBERS: Some data corrections in tonight’s stats from the Public Health daily-summary page, cumulative totals:
*79,681 people have tested positive, 448 more than yesterday’s total
*1,318 people have died, 13 more than yesterday’s total
*4,955 people have been hospitalized, 3 fewer than yesterday’s total
*871,404 people have been tested, 3,882 more than yesterday’s total
Now, our weekly check of key numbers on the COVID Vaccination Among King County Residents dashboard:
*266,573 people have received one dose
*85,033 people have received both doses
*374,825 doses have been allocated to King County
One week ago, the first four totals were 78,090/1,292/4,865/844,187, and the vaccination totals were 239,821/63,655/296,225.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 108.2 million cases, 2,383,000+ deaths – see the nation-by-nation numbers here.
VACCINATION UPDATES: In her weekly newsletter, City Councilmember Lisa Herbold lists local care homes that have been visited by the city’s mobile team, as well as other local vaccination-related updates.
IF YOU NEED TESTING SATURDAY: The city says it’s committed to keeping the West Seattle site (2801 SW Thistle) open and accessible.
COUNTY HEALTH OFFICER’S BRIEFING: Dr. Jeff Duchin led his weekly briefing/media Q&A – see it here.
GOT INFO OR PHOTOS? westseattleblog@gmail.com or text/voice 206-293-6302 – thank you!
(WSB photo: WSHS Class of 2020 drive-thru event, May 2020)
Because of the pandemic, the Class of 2020 ended high school with online ceremonies and drive-thru celebrations. With vaccinations under way and case numbers dropping, should the Class of 2021 get a chance to graduate in person? West Seattle High School‘s senior-class leaders say yes, and have just launched a petition drive. Here’s how they make their case, as sent by ASB president Ella Richardson;
As planning is getting underway, the school board has informed the student body that their graduation this year will be held virtually yet again. For the class of 2021, their entire year has been experienced virtually. They have missed out on all of the milestones that high-school seniors often look forward to, which has contributed to the mental-health crisis many students are facing.
Though this has been a year of loss, the Senior class has still held out hope for an in-person graduation. With vaccine rollouts rapidly increasing, and COVID numbers trending down, the likelihood of in-person events happening in June is a possible reality.
All of our schools hold weekly in-person distributions, and contact sports have resumed. Furthermore, many schools across the state have managed to safely return to in-person learning. These steps make it clear that a safe, in-person graduation is possible, and should be pursued by the Seattle Public Schools district.
If you agree the School Board should move beyond simply holding a virtual graduation, and begin planning for a safe in-person graduation, please sign this petition.
Some districts are planning for possible in-person graduations, like Highline (just south of Seattle). SPS’s website, meantime, lists only dates.
West Seattle’s Luna Park Café is reopening indoor dining today, at 25 percent capacity as per state guidelines. Proprietor John Bennett says the restaurant will be open 8 am-9 om seven days a week and will still offer takeout orders (206-935-7250) plus “for the hardy … we have a few tables outside. Join us for Valentine’s weekend ! Boozy raspberry vodka shakes and cranberry mimosas.”
Luna Park Café is at 2918 SW Avalon Way.
The governor’s latest updates top tonight’s roundup:
GOVERNOR’S BRIEFING: Under the latest version of the reopening plan, the state reviews stats by region every two weeks, and announces by Friday where everyone will be the following Monday. Today, Gov. Inslee announced all but one region (South-Central) will be in Phase 2 as of Sunday (moving it up a day for Valentine’s Day, at a reporter’s suggestion). “We are making real progress on the pandemic,” he declared, touting the dropping case numbers.
He also cited “huge” progress in vaccination acceleration, though the story was the same one we’ve heard for a while now – many more people could be vaccinated if only enough vaccine was available. So for counties like ours that are already in Phase 2, when will there be word of criteria for Phase 3? No timeline yet, Inslee said. You can watch the briefing here.
NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Public Health daily-summary dashboard, here are today’s cumulative totals (no data notes explaining the extra-low numbers in some categories, if you’re wondering):
*79,233 people have tested positive, 66 more than yesterday’s total
*1,305 people have died, unchanged from yesterday’s total
*4,958 people have been hospitalized, 16 more than yesterday’s total
*867,522 people have been tested, 89 more than yesterday’s total
One week ago, the four totals we track were 77,841/1,279/4,846/841.693.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them, county by county, on the state Department of Health page.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 107.7 million cases worldwide, 27.3 million of them in the U.S. See the nation-by-nation breakout here.
VACCINATION EQUITY: A new state report is out. It includes these datapoints:
*The percentage of vaccinated people who are Hispanic (4.7% of people who have received at least one dose, 5.9% of people who are fully vaccinated) is lower than Hispanic representation in the state population (13.2%).
*The percentage of vaccinated people who are Black (2.2% of people who have received at least one dose, 2.7% of people who are fully vaccinated) is lower than Black representation in the state population (3.9%).
*Multiracial groups are also underrepresented compared to the overall state population, both among people who have received at least one dose of vaccine and people who are fully vaccinated.
SCHOOL OUTBREAKS: Another new state report has stats on outbreaks in K-12 schools:
Local health jurisdictions reported 84 COVID-19 outbreaks that occurred in K-12 schools across thirteen counties between August 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020. The number of outbreaks by county ranged from 1 to 33. A total of 305 COVID-19 cases were associated with these outbreaks. The median number of cases per outbreak was three. Sixty four percent of all outbreaks involved two or three cases. The smallest outbreak involved two cases, and the largest involved 13.
NEED FOOD? 2-5 pm tomorrow at Food Lifeline (815 S. 96th) HQ, it’s the weekly distribution of emergency food boxes.
HIGHLAND PARK ‘SNACK PACK’ EVENT POSTPONED: Because of the likelihood of more snow, this food-distribution event tomorrow afternoon at Highland Park Elementary is off, but the one set for 3-5 pm February 26th is still on.
GOT PHOTOS/TIPS? 206-293-6302, text or voice, or westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
We end the night with the latest on the pandemic:
NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Seattle-King County Public Health daily-summary dashboard, the cumulative totals:
*79,167 people have tested positive, 186 more than yesterday’s total
*1,305 people have died, 5 more than yesterday’s total
*4,942 people have been hospitalized, 23 more than yesterday’s total
*867,433 people have been tested, 4,167 more than yesterday’s total
One week ago, the four totals we track were 77,577/1,270/4,843/838,171.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them, county by county, on the state Department of Health page,.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: See them, nation by nation, here.
GOVERNOR SPEAKS TOMORROW: Gov. Inslee plans a 2:30 pm media briefing Thursday, announced as “an update on the the state’s response to the ongoing pandemic, including rental and business assistance, and vaccine distribution.” It’ll be streamed by TVW, but no direct link yet.
VACCINATION SITUATION: That was the main topic during today’s weekly briefing by state health officials. The state’s periodic update on the vaccination situation is here. Key excerpt: “As of Feb. 6, more than 940,000 doses of vaccine have been given across the state, which is nearly 80% of the 1,195,207 doses that have been delivered to our providers and long-term care programs. Washington is currently averaging 26,857 vaccine doses given each day.” Also:
Supply from the federal government continues to be our greatest challenge. This week our providers requested more than 440,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, including 281,100 first doses and 165,750 second doses. In all, we received just over 200,000 doses from the federal government, which is less than half.
Although doses are not where we would like them to be right now, we are optimistic about the future. We have been told by the federal government that allocations for both Pfizer and Moderna will increase in the coming weeks and months.
They’re also hopeful the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will get authorization. And one last note – the state has for the first time “received a 3-week allocation forecast from the federal government” – which, even if doses are fewer than hoped for, will enable better planning. And they briefly mentioned some pharmacies in the state getting some vaccine as part of a separate federal allotment.
STORM PREPS: At a city briefing today looking ahead to the potential snowstorm(s), Mayor Durkan said that plowing plans include prioritizing COVID-19 testing sites.
SHELTER CASE: Also noted in our weather coverage, West Seattle is without an emergency shelter in the cold weather because a COVID case at the WS Veterans Center shelter has forced it to temporarily close.
GOT INFO? Email us at westseattleblog@gmail.com or phone us, text or voice, at 206-293-6302 – thank you!
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