This morning the city’s new Mobile Vaccination Team, which is staffed by Seattle Fire Department paramedics and EMTs, announced that it has finished up its work on vaccinating residents and workers in adult family homes, and as of yesterday has moved on to its next set of people to vaccinate: home healthcare workers, and older residents of permanent support housing and affordable housing buildings in the city.
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Philadelphia safe consumption site struck down by Court of Appeals
In late 2019, the movement to establish “safe consumption” sites in the United States — including in Seattle — got a rare win when a U.S. District Court judge in Philadelphia ruled that Safehouse, that city’s attempt at opening a safe consumption site, did not violate federal law. Today the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling in a 2-1 decision, bringing it into alignment with other federal circuit courts.
Continue readingCity of Seattle ramps up direct vaccine delivery
Building on its successful free COVID-19 testing program, today Mayor Durkan and Seattle fire Department Chief Harold Scoggins announced that the state has officially approved SFD’s EMS team to be a COVID-19 vaccine distributor, and with that certification the team will launch two “mobile vaccination teams.”
Continue readingWelcome to the next phase of COVID. The rules just changed, so pay attention.
While we were all (rightly) focused on Geroge Floyd, police violence, and structural racism, something important quietly happened on the COVID front in Washington: we moved out of Phase 1, the shutdown. In our new reality some of the rules are the same, but many of them have changed. For the most part, the government seems ready to do its part; but the rest of us aren’t yet. It’s time to get our act together.
Continue readingCity partnering with UW for free COVID-19 drive-up testing
Late this afternoon, Mayor Jenny Durkan and UW President Ana Mari Cauce signed a partnership agreement to provide free COVID-19 testing at two drive-through locations in Seattle.
Continue readingGovernor lifts restrictions on Council deliberations
Last Friday, Governor Inslee extended and revised his emergency proclamation that suspended provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act and the Public Records Act, lifting the restrictions on the Council and other public agencies from taking certain actions.
Continue readingWhere do we go from here? New research and studies suggest next steps for fighting COVID-19
We’re no longer talking about whether to lock down to fight the COVID-19 outbreak; that ship has sailed. Now we’re discussing how long we need to sustain the lockdown, and when we might get to see our friends, co-workers and family again. Five newly-released research and study papers provide important insights into the answer.
Continue readingTwo off-the-beaten-path research papers on the coronavirus, with interesting results
There have been a flood of research papers released in the last few days related to coronavirus as the world’s researchers try to understand where this virus came from and what it does. Much of the work is either clinical to understand how to properly diagnose and treat patients, or epidemiological to understand (and hopefully control) how it spreads. But there are many other research teams exploring other aspects of the coronavirus; here are two such examples, with interesting results. One looks at whether there is reason to believe that at least some COVID patients lose their sense of smell; …
Continue readingThe latest research on coronavirus transmission in King County is a much-needed sign of hope
Earlier this week the Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM) released a pair of research papers (here and here) looking at the transmission rate of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in King County. It provides hopeful news for the effectiveness of the social-distancing methods being used to try to slow the spread, and it also suggests some new ways to predict how we’re doing.
Continue readingGovernor rewrites Open Public Meetings Act and Public Records Act for duration of COVID emergency
Yesterday Governor Jay Inslee issued a proclamation that temporarily suspends several of the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act and the Public Records Act until April 23 — though practically speaking, until the end of the COVID-19 crisis. The changes are allowances for the fact that most government employees are telecommuting, and many legislative bodies (including the Seattle City Council) are holding their public meetings by conference call.
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