Husky Stadium, at the University of Washington Seattle campus (shown above), holds some 70,000 fans. Or rather, it did. As of yesterday, Gov. Jay Inslee...
...announced new community strategies and social distancing plans Wednesday at a news conference in Seattle to minimize COVID-19 exposure, particularly in counties hit hardest by the virus.
Starting today, events that takes place in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties with more than 250 people are prohibited by the state. This order applies to gatherings for social, spiritual and recreational activities. These include but are not limited to: community, civic, public, leisure, faith-based, or sporting events; parades; concerts; festivals; conventions; fundraisers and similar activities.
“This is an unprecedented public health situation and we can’t wait until we’re in the middle of it to slow it down,” Inslee said. “We’ve got to get ahead of the curve. One main defense is to reduce the interaction of people in our lives.”
For the full list of announcements, see:
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) information and updates
See CathyM’s diary for similar announcements for Oregon.
Got an alert from UW Athletics yesterday as well, about how they will be holding sports events. They’ll be playing without an audience, but players, coaches and staff, press, families of players, and recruits ;-) can be there. No word yet on streaming of events.
UW and other area universities had already cancelled in-person classes for the rest of the quarter. Faulty are scrambling to switch to online instruction.
Just a little sidelight: Husky Stadium holds 70,000, and fills up for Husky football games. UW Seattle combined faculty, staff, student population is about 69,000. So, yes, we draw more people for football games than the size of the university. Many fans are alumni. If UW Seattle were a city, it would be in the top 4% by population. Last I heard, one staff member has COVID-19, and one resident of the nearby Ida Culver nursing home.
Since we’re talking about the University of Washington, and being a Husky myself, I feel a need to brag. The UW Medical Center Virology lab started developing a test for SARS-CoV-2 using PCR back in January, can currently process 1000 tests per day, and will be ramping up to 4000.
www.livescience.com/…
depts.washington.edu/...
There are, obviously, a large number of venues in and around Seattle that can hold much more than 250 people. Benaroya Hall, where the Seattle Symphony plays, holds 2,500. The symphony has cancelled concerts, as have many other arts organizations. Here is a list of cancellations and restrictions from KIRO, which will be updating the list:
www.kiro7.com/…
Of course, the one you wanted to know about is...sorry, the Emerald City Comic Con is postponed til summer. There will be pop-ups in Seattle and Portland.
Many groups in the Puget Sound area with meetings smaller than 250 people have been cancelling for several weeks already, or switching to online meetings. My email is full of “virtual” this and “webinar” that and “online” t’other. I predict that Zoom and similar services will see a large uptick in business. Hope they are busy provisioning…
Rep. Pramila Jayapal sent a detailed message — I’d like to highlight several items.
First is a call to not act like a [fleep] toward people of Asian descent.
Please note that being Chinese or Asian American does not increase the chance of getting or spreading COVID-19. People – including those of Asian descent – who have not recently traveled to Asia or been in contact with a person who is a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 are not at greater risk of acquiring and spreading COVID-19 than other people.
According to the CDC, stigma and discrimination can occur when people associate an infectious disease, such as COVID-19, with a specific population or nationality, even though not everyone in that population or from that region has the disease and members of particular groups are at no greater risk for contracting it. Two weeks ago, I joined my colleagues in the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) to dispel the stigma, misinformation, and conspiracy theories that are disparaging and negatively affecting the Asian American community in the United States and abroad.
Second is that Seattle public schools will be closing, but they are making plans for feeding kids:
In light of Governor Inslee's request for citizens to practice social distancing measures, Seattle Public Schools have announced plans to close for a minimum of 14 days, per CDC guidance. Beginning tomorrow (Thursday, March 12), all Seattle Public School building activities including school day instruction, childcare, health services, enrichment, etc. are canceled until further notice. More information will be communicated tomorrow, and an emergency food plan will be put into place on Monday, March 16 for all students. Please check the SPS Coronavirus 2019 Update webpage for new information.
For public schools outside of Seattle, the Governor is asking school districts to make contingency plans around how they could provide services to families in need if schools closed for several weeks. Potential issues to address include free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch, students completing school work at home, and child care options.In Congress, I have co-sponsored legislation – the Maintaining Essential Access to Lunch for Students (MEALS) Act – to protect students’ access to school meal benefits during school closures. Millions of children rely on free or low-cost meals at schools across the nation, and we have a moral responsibility to ensure these kids still have access to food and meals during this crisis. If passed and signed into law, this bill will give the USDA the flexibility it needs to accept requests from states to continue meal programs even if schools are shut down because of COVID-19.
And third, there is a special enrollment period on the WA HealthPlanFinder:
Special enrollment period to sign up for health insurance if you are uninsured: In response to the potential growth of Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, the Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) announced a limited-time special enrollment period for qualified individuals who are currently without insurance. This special enrollment period (SEP), that runs through April 8, 2020, will allow uninsured individuals 30 days to enroll in health insurance coverage through Washington Healthplanfinder.
And now, just a few local notes and observations…
The Seattle area is completely sold out of cleaning and sanitation supplies like bleach / peroxide cleaners and isopropyl alcohol in any form. Local stores are limiting purchases of the non-existent items. I ordered multiple gallons of 99% isopropyl alcohol via Amazon, and discovered that this is usually a business-to-business sale. I had to sign in person for the shipment, because the stuff is flammable. Unfortunately, because it was expected that I was a business, and would have someone on site to receive shipments, the vendor had not checked the box to allow me to schedule delivery. After missing the delivery once, I ended up hanging out doing yard work for most of the day. Just sayin’, if you are ordering isopropyl alcohol in bulk, be aware of this…
While hanging out waiting for FedEx, a fair number of neighbors wandered by. Folks have realized that self-isolating does not mean staying inside. Going outside — especially on a rare sunny day — is fine. Just do the little 6-foot distance dance.
Someone on Nextdoor inquired what stores still had TP in stock. Neighbors answered, pretty much all of ‘em. There are odd shortages of specific paper items, but there is usually some form of whatever it is. Usually, what’s available are the more expensive forms — store brands tend to be sold out. But, one person posted that they buy TP online from WhoGivesACrap, which makes TP from bamboo (which is a lot more renewable than trees...trust me, my next door neighbor planted bamboo and now we can’t get rid of it...), and helps construct sanitation facilities where needed. The post said, they’re sold out of TP, but you gotta see the announcement… :D I’ll quote it, because browsers may block the popup:
Holy Crap. We've sold out of TP.
Well. That. Was. Crazy. With all the panic buying madness, we’ve sold out and are working as hard as possible to restock. While we do, we want to acknowledge that these are crazy times. We feel it too. So while we work to restock, please think about how we can all do our bit to encourage kindness, empathy and calm. If you have spare rolls, see if your neighbours need some. Go and support your favourite Chinese restaurant. Watch some puppy videos.
Hugs,
Who Gives A Crap