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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Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy a quiet weekend (I'm taking the weekend off, so look for your next email on Tuesday the 1st, which will be the City Update). If it's your first time cooking a turkey because you're keeping in your household, good luck and be safe! Here are some tips from the CDC on turkey cooking and on safer gatherings!

Case rates are up again, surpassing 300 cases per 100,000 population for the last two weeks. On Sunday, Snohomish County also had more than 300 cases reported in a single day – a new record high daily case count.
We are seeing the dangerous impacts of these rising case rates. There are now 82 people hospitalized, including 70 confirmed COVID cases and 12 suspect cases (which generally means test results are pending but doctors believe the illness is COVID). Of those 82 patients, 11 are relying on mechanical ventilators to breathe.
As we head into a holiday weekend, please take steps to protect yourself and your loved ones. Cancel any plans to host or attend an in-person Thanksgiving get-together. COVID doesn’t take holidays, and we don’t want you, your family or your friends included in these numbers in the next week or two.
We can all help turn this around, and we need to.

Risk of Gatherings

From the UW Institute for Disease Modeling: "On average in WA, if you have dinner with 15 people, the risk of at least one bringing COVID is around 15% - 1 in 6. The same odds of catching a bullet in Russian roulette,” Mike Famulare, principal research scientist at the institute, shared. He added, If we change our behavior to stop transmission as effectively as we did in late March, we can turn this around and avoid record-shattering hospitalization, death, and chronic #LongCovid.

Our update numbers for the County show us at 303.6 cases per 100,000 for the two week period ending November 21. The map below that shows Mukilteo in the 100-199 cases/100,000 range.
The weekly snapshot is out, as well, available here. All metrics are going in the wrong direction.

According to the latest update of the state DOH’s Statewide COVID‐19 Outbreak Report, restaurants and food service are the largest sources of outbreaks since the pandemic began.

Added dates and locations for testing

Drive-thru testing at the 3900 Broadway site in Everett has been completely booked up most days this week, seeing 450-500 people daily. To accommodate the increased need, the Health District is expanding operations to include weekends at this location starting Saturday, November 21.
Beginning on Monday, November 23, the Health District will open an additional location in Everett. The second site will be at Everett Community College, located at 915 N. Broadway in the parking lot immediately south of the WSU Everett campus. Testing will be available at this location five days a week starting in December.
Both of the Health District’s testing sites will be closed on November 26 and 27 for Thanksgiving. However, additional testing locations around Snohomish County operated by the Health District will be announced soon.
All testing is offered 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., by appointment only. Registration is now open for appointments through the end of November. All information can be accessed at www.snohd.org/testing.
Testing is open to anyone, regardless of symptoms, but remains strongly encouraged for individuals that fit the following criteria:
• Anyone with any of the following COVID-19 symptoms (fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headaches, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea); or
• Close contact of a confirmed case; or
• Anyone who lives or works in a congregate setting; or
• Work in healthcare, EMS, law enforcement or other fields where work settings have a higher risk of catching or spreading COVID-19; or
• Part of a family or social network that has had a case.

Other News Links

KOMO: Two COVID-19 positive airline passengers urge state , CDC to ‘inform everyone’ who flew with them

Seattle PI: Most Washington counties are at their worst COVID rates so far. Is 4 weeks of restrictions enough?

Ninety days on the frontline: How UW Medicine led the response to the nation’s first COVID-19 outbreak – UW News

Inslee announces cap on third-party delivery fees to help restaurants

Gov. Jay Inslee today announced a new cap on fees charged to restaurants by third-party delivery platforms, such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, GrubHub, Postmates and others. The proclamation caps delivery fees at 15% and total fees at 18% of the purchase price of an order. Third party delivery platforms have seen increased usage as fewer people are dining indoors this year due to health restrictions and concerns over contracting COVID-19.

State Offers $135m in Economic Support

In addition to funds announced on Sunday, the total new economic supports amount to $135 million. Included in that total is:
• $70 million in business support grants.
• $30 million for the recovery loan program.
• $20 million for rental assistance.
• $15 million for energy bills for low-income households.
Learn more about the grants available here.

OSPI urges more to apply for food program

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) encourages qualifying child-care centers, emergency shelters, and adult care centers in Washington state to participate in the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). The CACFP reimburses some costs associated with serving well-balanced, nutritious meals to children and adults.
The following care centers and institutions may participate in the CACFP:
• Nonresidential licensed public or private nonprofit child care centers or family daycare homes.
• For-profit child care institutions in which at least 25% of children served are low-income based on the center’s licensed capacity or total monthly attendance, whichever is less.
• Area eligible child care centers or institutions that provide care to school-age children.
• Nonprofit emergency shelters that provide temporary residential facilities to children.
• Qualifying public or nonprofit adult centers, or for-profit adult centers that receive compensation under Title XIX of the Social Security Act for at least 25% of their enrolled adults.
Care centers and institutions may apply for the program or get more information by emailing OSPI's Community Nutrition Program, or by mailing Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, P.O. Box 47200, Olympia, Washington 98504–7200.

Holiday Tree Is Lit

If your family puts up a tree and you needed an excuse to put it up, the City's holiday tree at 3rd Street and SR525 has its lights on!

Hunger for social contact looks like food craving

Humans in isolation are hungry for social contact, which will surprise no one feeling alone during this pandemic. New research tells us the craving we feel for human companionship starts in the same part of the brain that drives desire for food. In experiments conducted long before Covid-19 emerged, scientists isolated people in windowless rooms for 10 hours (they were not working remotely). Later they fasted for the same amount of time. After each session their brains were scanned while they looked at three kinds of images: happy groups of people, food, or flowers. The same tiny midbrain structure linked to craving lit up when social interaction or food were displayed. “Acute isolation causes social craving, similar to the way fasting causes hunger,” the researchers write.

Other News

The Atlantic: Hospitals Can’t Go On Like This. Twenty-two percent of American hospitals don’t have enough workers right now.

StatNews: Self-interest nudged me to join Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine trial. Here’s how it’s going

The New York Times: States that imposed few restrictions now have the worst outbreaks

States that imposed few restrictions now have the worst outbreaks – The New York Times

How four COVID experts will keep their families safe on Thanksgiving - The New York Times

As U.S. reaches 250,000 deaths from COVID-19, a long winter is coming - NPR

The coronavirus is airborne indoors. Why are we still scrubbing surfaces? - The New York Times

Third major COVID-19 vaccine shown to be effective and cheaper – The Seattle Times

Data show hospitalized Covid-19 patients are surviving at higher rates, but surge in cases could roll back gains- Stat News

All guidance can be found here.

King County guidance on what to do when an employee is diagnosed with COVID-19.

Getting to Safe Toolkit for Businesses

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.

Current case count is 259 confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases identified in Mukilteo (23 new cases), and 176 individuals who are recovered (22 new recoveries).

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