Here is my daily update, some COVID-19 information, some other useful information! Please forward as widely as you would like.
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I have no nominations for today, so I'm taking a little break and waiting to honor someone tomorrow. Send me people that inspire you in big and small ways. Do you know someone who deserves to be the Mukiltean of the Day? Nominate them.

This weekend had both inspiring and scary moments. I encourage Mukilteans to think about our individual experiences in the world, to look past the scary images, to look deeper for the stories and the pain.
I issued a proclamation today to voice my support for everyone who feels the pain of systemic discrimination, who hurts for others, and who wonders what can be done, or what it all means. You can read it below, and at this link.

Our Police Chief, who is dedicated to our community and leading our well-trained and compassionate group of police officers, issued a statement on Friday. If you didn't see it, I've pasted it below:

"The death of Mr. Floyd in Minneapolis is not just disturbing but the actions leading up to it are deeply concerning. Those actions are not consistent with the training, protocols, and values of the men and women of the Mukilteo Police Department. We mourn with the Floyd family and extend our hope for healing in Minneapolis. Our police department, along with our neighboring police agencies, have worked tirelessly to establish and maintain the trust between our police officers and the communities we serve. That trust can quickly dissolve with a single incident by someone who wears the uniform and badge that represents our profession as a whole.
The core values of the Mukilteo Police Department are Professionalism – Integrity – Community. I want to reassure our community that we remain committed to our mission of “Providing professional policemservice for and with the community.” It is that trust and partnership of the community that allows us to be successful in our role as law enforcement officers. It is with the trust of the community that we work on maintaining every day, so that our staff can professionally deliver essential services for and with the community.
Mayor Gregerson and I are extremely proud of the men and women of our police department. They truly represent the good in our community as they risk their personal safety to help those in need and keep our community safe.
Thank you for your trust and friendship." - Police Chief Kang

The City of Everett spearheaded an awesome effort at creating this toolkit for businesses to "get to safe" for reopening. It is available here, and is a must for businesses.

Do you have a pile of spring cleaning items to donate or dispose of? You do have options!

The Airport Road Solid Waste Transfer Station is open now, 7am-4:30pm, with no restrictions on individual drop offs (info here). The recycling area remains closed, however (probably too much of a hands-on activity).

NW Center (the BigBlueTruck.org) has clothing-only self-serve drop off locations open (details on their operation here). The closest one to Mukilteo is the Value Village at 17216 Highway 99 in Lynnwood (other locations here).

The New and Again Thrift Shoppe, which supports Domestic Violence Services, is working to be ready to open when we are in phase 2 (which allows in-store retail).

Drive Thru testing continues with the Health District. We have heard that will be at the Mukilteo Library on Friday, June 5th. Information about their program and how to get an appointment can be found here.

Check out this webinar from Beresford and Booth about the Paycheck Protection Program and the loan forgiveness process. Very useful for business owners who received one of these loans.

The New York Times has an interesting article (and graphics) about how to track and think about the coronavirus pandemic at this point. They'll be updating it over time. It has stats on new hotspots, and good stories about improvements, too. Accessible via this link.

Another NY Times article, reviewing the new CDC guidelines about what office spaces should look like in the future. Kind of crazy.

The Governor has refined the rules, and things are progressing. Snohomish County is submitting their application to get to Phase 2 today. King County announced the same on Friday. We might move to Phase 2 in a few days, or a modified Phase 1. I'm guessing either Wednesday or Friday based on the fact that it took 1-2 days for the smaller counties to submit their applications and then get approved earlier in May.

What does a modified Phase 1 look like? It adds these activities (see info here):

• High-risk populations- Strongly encouraged, but not required, to stay home unless engaging in modified Phase I permissible activities.
• Recreation and fitness- Only allowed outdoor with five (not including the instructor) or fewer people outside of household.
• Gatherings- Only allowed outdoors of five or fewer people outside the household (it's not explicit, but it looks like Phase 2 allows indoors, too)
• Additional construction- As outlined in Phase 2 guidance
• Manufacturing operations- As outlined in Phase 2 guidance.
• Real estate- 25% of building occupancy. Indoor services limited to 30 minutes. (Phase 2 has a full reopening)
• In-store retail- 15% of building occupancy. (This does not apply to currently operating essential retail such as grocery stores. Currently operating essential retail should continue to follow the Phase 2 requirements.) Indoor services limited to 30 minutes. (Phase 2 has a full reopening)
• Personal services (hair and nail salons, and other businesses)- 25% of building occupancy. (Phase 2 has a full reopening)
• Professional services- 25% of building occupancy. Indoor services limited to 30 minutes for customers. (Phase 2 has a full reopening)
• Photography- As outlined in Phase 2 guidance.
• In-home/domestic services- As outlined in Phase 2 guidance.
• Pet grooming- 25% of building occupancy. (Phase 2 has a full reopening)
• Restaurants- No indoor dining allowed. (phase 2 allows 50% capacity indoors). Outdoor dining is permitted but seating at 50% of existing outdoor capacity.

The City Council meets tonight at 7pm (agenda and Zoom info here), and we are allowing public comment via phone/zoom login for the first time (call-in instructions here)! Feel free to call or join to see if I'm able to wrangle the technology!

If you become exposed to someone who tests positive for COVID-19, you'll have to quarantine for 14 days. The State Department of Health issued some tips about dealing with this experience of quarantine. Here are some notes I pulled/copied/slightly edited from the article:

If you've been asked to quarantine, you probably will be feeling just fine, but you could start to feel not well at some point. Line up some deliveries of things that comfort you when you are sick, like fever reducer, gripping novels (Carl Hiassen is an awesome writer with fun mysteries, crazy characters and just a little Florida-based environmentalism), your favorite chicken soup.
You should also keep low expectations about your own productivity. It's a stressful time with a lot of uncertainty.

If you have kids, think about ways to help them count down the days. Would they like to make a chain out of 14 construction paper rings and tear one off each day? Can they count down the days on a calendar? Is there a special treat they can have each day of quarantine?

Reach out to your friends and family for real connections. Asking for help is hard, but people love to help! Maybe they have great ideas for entertaining kids at home or recommendations for your Netflix queue. Plus, family will want frequent updates anyways.

This may be a good time to begin some small practices that can help with stress, like using a meditation app or starting a gratitude journal.

These are good tips even in this time of staying home more than normal!

All reopening guidelines can be found here. This is useful for businesses planning reopening, and for all of us to be educated about expectations in visiting businesses.

Join new bird watchers, it's a trending new activity!

How one French town (La Grande Motte) made beach going safe again. This is in the fun diversion section because of the great photos in the article and a glimpse of some beach-loving French residents. One comment- "it's strange to find the big empty beaches, and with so much light... It's like finding the beauty in things again."

Lighthouse Park, Edgewater Beach and 92nd Street Park reopened on May 5. Bathrooms are open only at Lighthouse Park 7am-7pm. Playgrounds remain closed.

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 59 confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases identified in Mukilteo (1 new case), with no deaths amongst those cases, and 55 individuals who are recovered (from Friday; next update at 2pm).

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