Here is your Mayor's update, some COVID-19 information, some other useful information! Please forward as widely as you would like.
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Our case counts are now just below 75 per 100,000 (good news!), but, the Health District has said there needs to be sustained progress before they would be comfortable with recommending in-person instruction at Snohomish County schools.
The Health District's Dr. Spitters said he is “cautiously optimistic about where things are going,” but people must keep in mind that hospitals are seeing a slight increase in COVID-19 cases, and that has continued over the past six weeks.

The next few charts from the County snapshot and State dashboard show data through August 8. The snapshots and dashboards always look back a couple weeks to ensure data accuracy and completeness.

The County's weekly snapshot is available here.

Below are three charts from the state dashboard, which also help illustrate where we're at.

One last note on data:
You’ve seen the COVID-19 case rate per 100,000 reported on most of these links, and in my email. Why does this statistic matter? Case rates provide a way to measure disease and compare our county to other areas, adjusting for differences in population.
The state Office of Financial Management recently reported a 1.4 percent increase in the population of Snohomish County. That contributed slightly to a decrease in the COVID-19 case rate this week because it is now calculated based on a higher number of people. The population change accounted for about one fewer case in the rates (73.7 cases per 100,000 with the new population estimate vs. 74.8 if the latest case rates were calculated with the previous population).

On August 18th, 1920, the 19th amendment to the constitution was ratified. The amendment reads: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

Many researchers and news organizations are looking back over the last 100 years. The following video and articles are especially interesting: (New York Times, NPR, Crosscut). An important fact that is not included, though, is that women (with the exception of Native American women) won the right in Washington State ten years earlier in 1910, voted on by the State Legislature and approved by voters—all men at the time. Unfortunately, Indigenous people and Native Americans were not able to vote until 1924, when Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act, granting them citizenship and voting rights. And, of course, African Americans, immigrants and others were regularly disenfranchised even after passage of the 19th amendment, due to Jim Crow era laws and entrenched racism.

COVID-19 is not the flu. The latest data show more than 200 families in Snohomish County have lost loved ones since February. That’s more than five years of flu deaths in the county combined.
Flu Deaths
 2015-2016: 9 deaths
 2016-2017: 45 deaths
 2017-2018: 40 deaths
 2018-2019: 26 deaths
 2019-2020: 11 deaths

If you are curious about how remote learning will work for our kids (nearly all school districts in our County will be fully remote this year), the Edmonds School District released draft schedules for elementary, middle, and high school students. Under the hybrid learning model, school buildings would be closed Wednesdays and all students would participate in independent learning at home. Teachers would also schedule office hours for small groups or individual support. Time would also be set aside for professional development for staff. It's likely that Mukilteo will work on something similar.

Below is the Edmonds elementary schedule (it's what my nephew will have for his kindergarten year, and what my sister will use to teach her second grade class!).

U.S. Homeland Security officials have announced that non-essential travel restrictions between the U.S. and Canada and the U.S. and Mexico have been extended to September 21, 2020.

The State of California has cut off coronavirus aid to two cities that refuse to shut down. It sounds like these cities were pretty aggressive with wanting to stay open with resolutions expressing support and actions to declare all businesses essential. They both have rising case counts now. (San Francisco Chronicle).

The New York Times offers some good tips on how to start a new job in this pandemic.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill canceled in-class instruction just one week into the new term on Monday after positive cases of COVID-19 shot up dramatically, becoming the latest U.S. school to reverse course on reopening (Reuters and NPR).

What surfaces should we still be cleaning and disinfecting (groceries, other surfaces?): Huffington Post tackles this topic. The experts in the article said wearing a mask and avoiding gatherings is more important, but we should also: Disinfect digital screens and surfaces; Consider cleaning your home’s main doorknob more often; Disinfect the high-touch surfaces inside your car; and wash our hands!

BBC- when we return to the workplace, it is a return to the before times or a new normal?

Fortune magazine commentary on another huge unemployment wave is coming, and what could be done to prevent it (spoiler alert- more CARES funding, continue the unemployment $600 weekly benefit, etc).

Seattle Times: Women on the front lines: Nearly 2/3 of Seattle-area essential workers are female

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced combined investments of $6.5 million in two commercial diagnostic laboratories to expand capacity to conduct up to 4 million additional SARS-CoV-2 per month.

Fred Hutch has a computer model offers insights on COVID-19 super-spreading.

Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) have found that the symptoms of COVID-19 tend to appear in a specific order, a discovery that could help enable earlier detection and treatment.
According to the study, the most likely order of symptoms is: fever, then cough and muscle pain, followed by nausea and/or vomiting, and then diarrhea. Here is the study.

A saliva-based laboratory diagnostic test developed by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health to determine whether someone is infected with the novel coronavirus has been granted an emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). News release here.

Snohomish County Fair Park staff and volunteers are planning a countywide drive-thru food drive on August 27 as a way to celebrate the Fair community even though the Evergreen State Fair was canceled due to COVID-19. It will be hosted at the Evergreen State Fair Park in Monroe from 4-7pm in the West parking lot.
You are invited to decorate your vehicle in a fun Fair-inspired theme! Ideas could include: County Fair elements, Americana, fair food, carnival ride, race car or even a pig! Participants could win a Family 4–Pack of Fair admission and Carnival tickets to the 2021 Evergreen State Fair. Businesses are also welcome to decorate their business vehicle for a chance to win 12 fair admissions. There will also be a variety of food trucks at the event for take-out. More information here.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now sharing hard data that demonstrates what many already have observed: the COVID-19 crisis is escalating mental health challenges.
A new study shows that symptoms of anxiety disorder and depressive disorder increased considerably in the United States during April–June of 2020, compared with the same period in 2019.
“Mental health conditions are disproportionately affecting specific populations, especially young adults, Hispanic persons, black persons, essential workers, unpaid caregivers for adults, and those receiving treatment for preexisting psychiatric conditions,” the CDC said. “Unpaid caregivers for adults, many of whom are currently providing critical aid to persons at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19, had a higher incidence of adverse mental and behavioral health conditions compared with others.”
Help is available through Washington Listens (www.walistens.org). Call 1-833-681-0211 to reach a live support specialist who will listen and connect you to community resources. The program is anonymous and no identifying information is maintained.

Disaster Cash Assistance Program COVID-19 Response (through DSHS- click here) or call 877-501-2233

Call 2-1-1 for additional referrals. There is rental assistance if you qualify; you need to call 211 and they will ask you a series of screening questions. If you meet the criteria, a housing assistant will call back to help with rent relief.

This is the County hub for all resources including a map of local food banks and other resources: https://snohomish-county-coronavirus-response-snoco-gis.hub.arcgis.com/

No direct link, but this is a cool program: Sound Credit Union and KIRO 7 are teaming up for Comfort Food – a program helping to support our community by investing in small businesses and providing meals for those who need them most. Every week, they’ll send a food truck to deliver lunch to a local organization serving people in need… feeding and comforting a stronger community.

All guidance can be found here. Expect to hear new guidelines for fall activities soon-ish (like pumpkin patches, tree farms, etc).

Lighthouse Park, Edgewater Beach and 92nd Street Park reopened on May 5. Bathrooms are open only at Lighthouse Park 7am-7pm. Playgrounds remain closed until either Phase 3 or when we have full staffing and ability to clean daily.

Trails and sidewalks continue to be open for your physical activity! Please respect physical distance of six feet.

All City Facilities closure: City operations will continue via primarily phone, email and online. The public is encouraged to call (425) 263-8000 for assistance with City services or visit our website at www.mukilteowa.gov. Government services are not slated to reopen until Phase 3 of the new reopening plan, which is mid-June at the earliest.

For more information on city facilities, see this link.

Current case count is 105 confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases identified in Mukilteo (1 new case), and 85 individuals who are recovered (1 new case).

County and city case counts are available at this link, updated each weekday at 2pm.