COVID Banner
 

Here is your Mayor's update, some COVID-19 information, some other useful information! Please forward as widely as you would like.
I want to hear from you, contact me anytime.

If you're reading this because it was forwarded to you, or you saw it on Facebook and would like to receive it yourself, email here to subscribe

Today, We Have Stay-at-Home Protocols in Place

We now have a 14-day quarantine requirement for anyone returning to Washington state after visiting the United Kingdom, South Africa and other countries where a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, 501Y.V, has been circulating.

A current 200-person limit on gatherings for religious services has been lifted following a U.S. Court of Appeals decision which struck down Nevada’s 50-person attendance caps. The required 200-person cap is being converted to a recommended cap. Other minor modifications are made to align the guidance documents and the proclamation related to music and singing. Updated guidance is here. Wedding and funeral guidance is here.

County still in precarious position

Snohomish County saw a second week of decreased case rates, down from 417 to 330 cases per 100,000 population. This is encouraging! I appreciate everyone who made tough choices this holiday season to reduce the spread of COVID.
But.... It is worth noting that COVID testing availability was limited over the holiday, so numbers of new cases are likely lower in part due to the temporary decline in testing activity.
As we get ready to say farewell to 2020 and ring in 2021, remember to keep up prevention measures like masking, distancing, handwashing and staying home if you feel ill. Make your health and your community’s health part of your New Year’s resolutions.

The COVID hospital census—the number of people hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19—has been holding steady at 90-100 people daily. These COVID cases represent more than 15 percent of total hospital capacity in the county, with the goal being under 10 percent. On any given day, there are 12-15 individuals requiring mechanical ventilation due to respiratory failure.

Snohomish County has been averaging 24 deaths per week this month. This is up from 1-2 per week in August and September.

casecount122920

How do Vaccines Arrive Here?

A lot of information below on how this vaccination has worked and will work in our County. The short story is that it's moving with care and the next big phase of vaccinations will probably open up in mid-January or slightly later, not earlier.

How do vaccines get to Washington?

After a vaccine gets the emergency use authorization (EUA), manufacturers begin mass production (if they haven't already- Pfizer and Moderna had started before the EUA). The Federal Health and Human Services Department initiates allocations to our State Department of Health (DOH). Concurrently, some vaccines will go directly through national pharmacy chains (Walgreens, etc).

How do they get to Snohomish County?

The State DOH takes their allocations from the federal government and then assigns to sites across the state. Their decisions are evidence-based and based on a number of strategies. They have focused on national (CDC and HHS) guidance and have focused on protecting the healthcare system- healthcare workers and those most likely to come into contact with COVID, and protecting healthcare sites.

Sites have to demonstrate their ability to use their allocation, as well. Any organization who is interested (think of- the Everett Clinic, Providence Medical Center, local pharmacies not covered by federal agreements in place) has to create a request with DOH for each unique site. DOH confirms their readiness and eventually places orders. It's a complex request process, which has taken some time. That's important because we all want these sites to be ready-- to have the appropriate freezers, documentation and testing showing that those freezers work, for instance.
DOH vaccine staff then review those requests (including the full package of information), which takes about 1-2 weeks. Then, a few more weeks pass- as it goes to the CDC for final approval, and after that, when orders are placed. Orders are only placed once a week right now, so it's a minimum of a week before an order is placed, and could be longer for that step in the process.
DOH will also use allocations to make sure it's equitably distributed across the state.

Who has the vaccine now?

Currently there are 35 enrolled providers sites in our county. 90 other sites have also initiated the enrollment process with DOH.
3900 doses were allocated to Snohomish County in the initial week, then 17,200 were allocated last week. This week, there are 8,850 doses allocated.

In our County, 3005 doses were administered as of Sunday. That includes 10 City of Mukilteo fire personnel (out of our total of 29 fire department first responders)!
Why haven't more doses been administered? Some organizations are taking it slow. About 25% of people have an adverse reaction in the day or two following a dose and need a sick day at home. Some hospitals, cities or the County have encouraged shifts of employees to get vaccinate.

The County has enough vaccines for everyone identified in our County in phase 1A. Remember that phase 1A includes high-risk healthcare workers and first responders, as well as anyone approved to administer vaccines in future phases.

What happens next?

The State needs to officially adopt Phase 1B, identifying the next group eligible for vaccination (and later, 1C). That will likely be a pretty big group of essential workers, long-term care residents, potentially other older adults with existing medical conditions that qualify as co-morbidities with COVID. That could be in mid-January- or slightly later, not earlier.

The County and the Health District are working to be ready for that, so they can get vaccines out as quickly as possible when that happens.
There is approval for EMS providers (South County Fire is one) and medical assistants to vaccinate, in addition to those 35 providers mentioned above. If those start to get overwhelmed, one of those strategies is to open up points of distribution, if that is necessary to get the doses administered more quickly. Those would be places outside of a pharmacy or hospital setting, more like the drive-through testing that you're familiar with (but in different locations throughout the county).

Local News

SHD shares information for parents, educators about in-person learning

Some of the most common questions and concerns the Snohomish Health District has received lately are about schools and in-person learning given the current level of COVID-19 spread in Snohomish County. We’d like to share some information specifically for school leadership, staff and teacher, and students and families. Watch the video to learn more.

Eviction Moratorium Extended

Governor Inslee announced the eviction moratorium is extended to March 31, 2021. The current eviction moratorium was set to expire on December 31.

Seniors- take this survey on COVID, open through Jan. 15th

Snohomish County Human Services' Department of Long Term Care & Aging would like to invite you to take the COVID-19 Seniors Survey. The survey is available online or by mail. The purpose of the survey will be to measure the impacts of COVID-19 on seniors in Snohomish County and how to prioritize programs and services in the future.
The survey is open through January 15, 2021 and is available in Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Visit Snohomish County’s Long Term Care and Aging website to take the survey, here

Insurance protections on coronavirus testing and billing extended

Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has extended two emergency orders. His order requiring health insurers to waive copays and deductibles for any consumer requiring testing for coronavirus (COVID-19) and his order protecting consumers from receiving surprise bills for lab fees related to medically necessary diagnostic testing for COVID-19 are both extended until Jan. 23, 2021.
Kreidler's order waiving cost-sharing applies to all state-regulated health insurance plans and short-term, limited-duration medical plans. The order on surprise billing applies to both in-state and out-of-state laboratories when a provider orders diagnostic testing for COVID-19.
Also, insurers must continue:
• Allowing a one-time early refill for prescription drugs.
• Suspending any prior authorization requirement for treatment or testing of COVID-19.
• In addition, if an insurer does not have enough medical providers in its network to provide testing or treatment for COVID-19, it must allow enrollees to be treated by another provider within a reasonable distance at no additional cost.

State urges homeowners with forbearance plans to work with servicers now

If you have concerns about mortgage payments/are in forbearance of your payments, communicating with your mortgage servicer prior to the end of your forbearance period is crucial. Make sure you get agreements in writing, read them thoroughly and make sure you understand what you’ve agreed to and what your mortgage servicer expects of you after your forbearance ends.
If you need help understanding the language used in your mortgage documents, the Washington Homeownership Resource Center offers resources to help you do that at http://www.homeownership-wa.org/managing-your-mortgage.
Homeowners impacted by COVID-19 who have Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgages have until Feb. 28, 2021 to request an initial forbearance (FHA Extends Options for Single Family Borrowers Financially Impacted by COVID-19 | HUD.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)). The federal eviction and foreclosure moratorium also is extended until Feb. 28, 2021.
It’s important for homeowners to understand forbearance is not forgiveness; the missed payments must be paid at some point in time. If you obtained a 180-day forbearance under the CARES Act, make sure you know when it ends, if you are eligible for a second 180-day forbearance, and what your repayment plan is.
Homeowners with concerns about their ability to make their payments after their forbearance, facing foreclosure when the federal and state moratoriums expire or having difficulty reaching their servicer should contact DFI’s Mortgage Assistance Team at 1-877-RING-DFI (746-4334) or the Washington Foreclosure Hotline at 1-877-894-HOME (4663) for access to free foreclosure prevention counseling. Additional information is available in multiple languages at https://dfi.wa.gov/coronavirus/resource-sheets.

multicultural

Newsletter launched to share COVID-19 information for multicultural communities

In an effort to better communicate information about the COVID-19 pandemic to all residents of Snohomish County, the Snohomish County Joint Information Center has launched a new email newsletter to share available materials and resources.
This newsletter will be used to periodically share updated information and new translated materials and/or graphics that may be helpful for community organizations throughout Snohomish County.
To subscribe, go to www.snohd.org/notifyme and sign up for COVID-19 Information for Multicultural Communities under the "Notify Me" heading. See the first edition here.

whencanibearoundothersagain

When can I be around others again?

King County Public Health has put together a helpful multi-page infographic for use following a positive COVID test or exposure to an infected person. It helps with calculating how long to stay isolated and/or quarantined, depending on the status of your symptoms and results (and date) of your most recent COVID test. The information is available in multiple languages.

A day in the life of a contact tracer

Also in the King County Public Health blog, a window into what it's like to be a contact tracer/health investigator: "You meet a person for the first time on the phone, someone in distress, anxious, or uncertain, and you’ve got about 30 seconds to build a rapport." Read her story here.

WSF Mukilteo Terminal Opening Today!

The new Mukilteo Ferry Terminal opens around 5:50 p.m. today!
However, before the terminal can open, service on the Mukilteo/Clinton route is now suspended until 5:35 p.m. for Clinton departures and until 6:10 p.m. for Mukilteo departures.
The 5:35pm sailing out of Clinton will mark the end of an 18-hour service suspension of the route to move floating marine structures from the old terminal to the new one. Because of COVID-19 restrictions on large gatherings, there will be no grand opening ceremony- but there is a cool video that will be released. I'll send the link out on Thursday.

COVID News

Side-Effects Explained

As people across the U.S. continue to get vaccinated — more than half a million doses have been administered at last count — some are also seeing side effects in response to the shot. In a new video, STAT's Alex Hogan explains the science behind these effects. Some of the most common symptoms such as fever, pain at the injection site, and muscle aches are normal, and occur in response to the body's immune system being alerted to the presence of antigen — in this case, the spike protein on SARS-CoV-2. Watch the explainer from StatNews here.

UW Medicine: Research strongly suggests COVID-19 virus enters the brain

State Guidance Updates

City News

Our next scheduled Council meeting is set for January 4 at 7pm. You can find the extended agenda for all upcoming meetings here. The agenda and zoom link for the meeting will be posted here tomorrow.

Inspiration and Diversions

NYE

City Information

Lighthouse Park, Edgewater Beach and 92nd Street Park reopened on May 5. Bathrooms are open only at Lighthouse Park 7am-7pm. Playgrounds are open, with warnings about cleaning schedules and advise to use at your own risk posted.

Trails and sidewalks continue to be open for your physical activity! Please respect physical distance of six feet, and put your face covering on as you pass others.

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, whenever that might be.

For more information on city facilities, see this link.

Case Count

Current case count is 419 confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases identified in Mukilteo (49 new cases since last Tuesday), and 239 individuals who are recovered (no new recoveries- might be a lag in the data).

For a little perspective-- we started counting in March, reached 200 cases on November 12, reached 300 on December 3, and, a little over three weeks later, we are over 400 cases.

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

General Resource Links

City of Mukilteo COVID-19 page

Snohomish Health District
Washington State Department of Health
Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
COVID-19 Testing Guidelines from Public Health – Seattle & King County
Find information in other languages
Washington State COVID-19 Response
Snohomish County COVID-19 Phone Line: 425-388-3944
Línea telefónica COVID-19 del condado de Snohomish: 425-388-7120
Washington State COVID-19 Hotline: Call 1-800-525-0127 or text 211-211 for help

What to do if you are sick: CDC Resources

 
   
 
Powered by Mad Mimi®A GoDaddy® company