Tag Archives: King County

News

Vaccination Path Forward Temporarily Unclear for Thousands of King County Residents

by Carolyn Bick

Because of Washington State’s decision to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations to indefinitely pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against the novel coronavirus, following incidents of serious blood clots in a handful people in the United States who have gotten the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, thousands of King County residents now do not know when they will be able to get vaccinated.

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News

County Faces Steep Decline in Available Vaccines, Youth Sports Teams See Outbreaks

by Carolyn Bick

There appear to be a small, but growing number of COVID-19 outbreaks among youth sports teams in King County, most of which have occurred in the South End. As of this writing, there have been 10 outbreaks this year, sickening 34 youths and eight adults.

Continue reading County Faces Steep Decline in Available Vaccines, Youth Sports Teams See Outbreaks →
News

New COVID Cases Outpacing Vaccinations, Highest Among 18 to 24-Year-Olds

by Carolyn Bick

Even as Washingtonians mark their calendars for April 15, the day  everyone aged 16 and older in the state will be able to get vaccinated, the viral storm clouds on the horizon are growing darker.

In the last week, the average daily COVID case rate in King County alone has risen to 250 new cases per day, Public Health — Seattle & King County (PHSKC) Public Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin told listeners in an April 2 press conference. This represents a 26% increase from the week before, and an 86% overall increase from the beginning of this most recent rise, which likely represents a fourth wave beginning, Duchin said.

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News

‘A Failed Leader’: Momentum Builds in Demands for Sheriff Johanknecht’s Resignation

by Carolyn Bick

At the 43:22 timestamp in a video of a nearly two-hour King County Council meeting regarding the shooting death of Mi’Chance Dunlap-Gittens, King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht gets up and walks out of the room, before any members of the community speak, and before Mi’Chance Dunlap-Gittens’s mother starts to read the last poem her son wrote before police shot and killed him in 2017.

“I have to get on to the next thing,” Johanknecht says, looking at the watch on her left wrist.

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News

NEWS GLEAMS: COVID Spike, Byrd Barr Changes, Happy B-Day to RAR!, and More

curated by Emerald Staff

A round-up of news and announcements we don’t want to get lost in the fast-churning news cycle! 

Photo by Alex Garland.

Spike in COVID Cases, Testing, and the Latest in Vaccines

COVID Spike Prompts Update to Rainier Beach COVID Testing & Vaccine Hub — Mayor Jenny Durkan announced last week that the City’s Rainier Beach and West Seattle COVID testing hubs — which recently began offering vaccines in addition to testing — would transition to vaccine-only hubs in the middle of this week, but data from Public Health — Seattle & King County revealed a spike in COVID cases in the county over the last two weeks. As a result, COVID testing at these sites will now be extended, says the City.

Continue reading NEWS GLEAMS: COVID Spike, Byrd Barr Changes, Happy B-Day to RAR!, and More →
News

King County May Be Skating on Thin COVID Ice, Public Health Officer Says

by Carolyn Bick

With Washington State entering Phase 3 and increasing COVID-19 cases — including brand-new variants of concern — both within King County and throughout the state, Public Health Seattle & King County Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin said that the proverbial ice Washingtonians are skating on is “beginning to crack a bit beneath us.” He predicted a fourth wave may now be beginning.

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News

Le Family Settles, Says KCSO, Deputy Molina Culpable — Sheriff Email Claims Otherwise

by Carolyn Bick

Tommy Le loved to cook and garden with his grandmother and do landscaping work with his father. He was friendly with his teachers. He loved to play chess. He had a curiosity that made him seek out deeply philosophical texts — a trait so unique that his local librarians knew him by name. And on June 14, 2017, the 20-year-old Vietnamese American student was going to attend his graduation ceremony at South Seattle College, where he had graduated from the College Career Link program just the day before.

But Le never got to attend that graduation ceremony. He never got to wear his graduation outfit. Generations of his family — some of them refugees — never got to see him achieve his dream of becoming a firefighter.

Instead, King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) Deputy Cesar Molina shot the young man twice in the back and once in the back of the hand in Burien on June 13, 2017. The shots to the back killed Le.

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News

COVID Case Rate Slightly Increases in King County, COVID Financial Assistance Available

by Carolyn Bick

Cases of COVID-19 have slightly increased over the past two weeks in King County, which could be an indicator of the “storm clouds on the horizon” that Public Health – Seattle & King County Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin has been warning the public about throughout late February and March.

“We still have a serious threat,” Duchin said during an online Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC) press briefing on Friday, March 19. “We can’t give up on it now. As my friend Mike Osterholm says, ‘It’s too late to tap the breaks after your car is wrapped around the tree.’”

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News

Homebound Elders Will Be Able to Be Vaccinated in Their Own Homes

by Carolyn Bick

Homebound elders who have no way to access community or mass COVID-19 vaccination sites will be able to get vaccinated in their own homes in the coming weeks.

In a press conference on March 12, Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC) Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin said that plans are in the works to create mobile vaccination teams that will be able to visit homebound elders who live in King County.

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News

County Not Out of Woods Yet, As Case Rates Plateau and Variant Gains Traction

by Carolyn Bick

Though cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations are down significantly from where they were before the third wave of virus activity in autumn 2020, King County isn’t out of the woods yet. In a virtual press conference on March 5, Public Health – Seattle & King County’s Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin said that the case rate and hospitalization rate have plateaued, and that at least one viral variant, B.1.1.7, remains poised to become the predominant variant in the state and throughout the country, based on expert projections.

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