Tag Archives: The Coronavirus

News

Inslee Announces Broad Plans to Reopen Washington State’s Economy, Including Rapid Response Team

by Carolyn Bick

Washington State Governor Jay Inslee said the state will not be able to lift all current movement restrictions and distancing measures by May 4.

In a televised announcement on April 21, Inslee said that the return to normalcy will be guided by science and data, and will be “more like a turning of a dial than the flip of a switch.” He said that these decisions will be based on healthcare modeling, which currently shows a plateau in new novel coronavirus cases, as well as carefully monitoring how the spread of the virus responds, after easing some restrictions.

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News

Seattle’s First Walk-Up Coronavirus Testing Site to Open in Rainier Beach

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by Carolyn Bick

Starting tomorrow, the city will see its first walk-up novel coronavirus testing site at the Atlantic City Boat Ramp across from Rainier Beach High School in South Seattle.

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News

Washington State Expands Unemployment Eligibility, Increases Weekly Payment by $600 Through Federal CARES Act

by Carolyn Bick

Washingtonians who were previously unable to claim unemployment may now find themselves eligible for benefits.

At a press conference on April 16, Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee and Washington Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzi LeVine announced an expansion to the state’s unemployment benefits program by implementing certain parts of the federal CARES Act, a response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. 

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News

“We Know There Are Sick People in Here”: Inmates Claim DOC Measures Just for Show

by Carolyn Bick

Every day, Dave M. works in the Washington Corrections Center kitchen. He stands right next to fellow inmates, all of whom are currently without masks, to make meals for the rest of the prison’s population. He says nothing in the kitchens have been moved or changed to make it safer for himself and his fellow kitchen workers. All the measures the Department of Corrections has announced its prisons are taking? He says they’re just for show.

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Community

When People Don’t Follow Social Distancing Guidelines, It’s the Vulnerable Who Pay

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by Carolyn Bick

The hardest part of the week for Brandi Soggs begins on Thursday nights. That’s when the chemo she’s received the day before starts kicking in. It makes her tired and foggy, she said, and she doesn’t have the ability to put together even a basic protein shake, let alone stand in front of the whirring machine for the two minutes it takes to make one.

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News

Lack of Detailed Demographic Data Around COVID-19 Has Serious Impacts for Providers

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by Carolyn Bick

Despite Washington State being the original epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the United States, the state has not released detailed demographic data around infections and deaths from COVID-19, lagging behind several states and counties throughout the country. King County released detailed demographic data around infections and deaths from COVID-19 on April 10, but the data is only from 51 percent of confirmed cases.

The King County data available shows that cases of the disease are highest among non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders, but that deaths are highest among white people. This available data is not consistent with what other areas of the U.S. are reporting –– that Black communities are at a disproportionately higher risk of death from the disease –– or with what some local critical care providers are seeing on the frontlines.

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News

United Way of King County Unveils Rental Assistance Program for Those Impacted by COVID-19

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by Carolyn Bick

Both documented and undocumented renters worried about their April rent payments will be able to breathe a little easier for at least a month, thanks to the United Way of King County’s emergency rental assistance program.

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Community

Healthy Creations Chef Focuses on Feeding the Community for the Long-Term

by Carolyn Bick

Clad in protective gear, South Seattle-based chef Ariel Bangs and her team worked to prepare boxes of food in the small kitchen of the temporarily shuttered Cafe Red. Like other South End chefs, Bangs is trying to fill pockets of need within the community. But the Healthy Creations chef is also going a step further: she plans to include soil and seeds in future food boxes.

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News

Washington State Schools will Stay Closed through End of School Year, Gov. Jay Inslee says

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by Carolyn Bick

Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee announced at an April 6 press conference with State Superintendent Chris Reykdal that he is extending school closures through the end of this school year in June, as the number of cases of novel coronavirus in the state begins to peak.

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News

Inslee asks manufacturers to step up in fight against novel coronavirus, addresses possible stay-home and eviction moratorium extensions

by Carolyn Bick

Though he didn’t formally commit to an extension of the current emergency stay-home order or the current eviction moratorium, Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee said in a televised press conference on April 1 that an extension on both remains likely. He also said the state’s manufacturers need to step up in the fight against the virus.

“We know this month could be decisive in this effort, both in terms of our nation’s response and our state’s response against COVID-19. This is, perhaps, the decisive moment that we are facing,” Inslee said.

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