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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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Today, We Are In Phase 2

The Governor announced a new phasing recommendation for schools that is similar to the county phases. In developing it, they reviewed a number of other countries that have resumed some degree of in-person educational instruction earlier this year. These countries that reopened generally had low and decreasing rates of COVID-19 cases in the community. The COVID case rates in several countries that resumed in-person educational instruction were below 35 cases per million population per day. As of July 23, 2020, Washington State's case rate was almost three times higher at 92 cases per million population per day. In addition, those rates in Washington slightly increased in the last 20 days, whereas most other countries had decreasing trends in the 20 days before reopening schools.

DOH’s “decision tree” framework offers metrics based on three COVID-19 activity levels:
* >75 cases per 100,000 in 14 days is considered a high COVID-19 activity level for a community. At this level, DOH recommends distance learning with the option for limited in-person learning who need it most – such as children with disabilities. Sports and extracurricular activities should remain on pause. Snohomish County’s current COVID-19 case rate in 14 days is 97.2 per 100,000.
* 25–75 cases per 100,000 in 14 days is considered a moderate COVID-19 activity level. At this level, DOH recommends distance learning as described above, with gradual expansion of in-person education, beginning with elementary students. Younger students under the age of 10 benefit the most from in-person learning while also posing less risk for transmitting COVID-19 than older students. Most sports and extracurricular activities should remain on pause.
* Below 25 cases per 100,000 in 14 days is considered a low COVID-19 activity level. At this level, DOH recommends full-time in-person learning for all elementary students and hybrid learning for middle and high school, eventually moving to in-person for middle and high school.

This document has more detail

Volunteer Opportunity

The Snohomish County Medical Reserve Corps is looking for volunteers. Since late January, nearly 200 volunteers have worked more than 7,000 hour supporting the community’s response to COVID-19.
The Snohomish Health District on Wednesday released a brief video describing the Corps, its work and opportunities for people to help.
Go to www.snohd.org/MRC to learn more.

In the News

KUOW: Get your flu shot early this year.

Seattle Met covers a timeline of the coronavirus from the Everett case in January, through toilet paper shortages and mask directives.

Washington state proposes new unemployment benefits formula as federal dollars dry up (KUOW). If the federal government allows the state to adjust unemployment benefits to 70% of the Washington state average, that would bring weekly payouts up to about $938 a week. With the $600 supplement, the average benefit Washingtonians had been receiving was $974 a week. Without the federal supplement, the average Washingtonian would only receive $374 a week.

The question of reopening schools this fall might have been resolved by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention evaluation of a summer camp outbreak in Georgia. 597 children attended the overnight camp that opened June 17, but on June 24, after an index case (the case that exposes others) of a staffer was identified, the camp was closed and many campers were tested. Test results were available for 344 attendees, of which 260 (76%) were positive. The overall attack rate (the percentage of people who are infected in an at-risk population during a specific period of time) was 51% for children 6-10 years old, 44% for children 11-17 years old, and 33% for young adults 18-21 years old.

Here is a Washington Post article (hat tip to resident M. Dixon!) that covers work by some psychologists who are moms and wanted to study parenting in the pandemic. They created Pandemic Parenting resources. One of them is a standard quiet time for everyone in the house to be alone each day (around 4pm for them, for nap time for one kid, but it allows everyone some down time). Here are their free resources: Pandemic Parent.

Experts weighed in on the most effective mask-wearing practices, the psychology behind not masking, and how to communicate its importance for AAMCNews (the Association of American Medical Colleges).

Washington Post: Health literacy is a problem in the US, and COVID has magnified the problem: "One in five people struggle with health information, says Michael S. Wolf, director of the Center for Applied Health Research on Aging at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University."

This AP article is about disparities in testing and test return rates around the country, but mostly focuses on the mechanics of the NBA "bubble" in Orlando, FL, where all teams are right now. I found it pretty interesting. Apparently they are probably spending about $115,000 to $180,000 every day on testing.

The Atlantic covers how the coronavirus pandemic has brought the US to its collective knees, and how this happened. Great article.

COVID Research

Koffing

Not all people diagnosed with COVID-19 develop antibodies (Medical XPress, also features a nice pokemon graphic of a couple Koffing pokemon!)

Statnews: ‘A huge experiment’: How the world made so much progress on a Covid-19 vaccine so fast.

The Johnson & Johnson adenovirus 26 vector-based vaccine was able to produce protective immune responses after a single dose in rhesus macaques. The researchers correlated vaccine-induced neutralizing antibody with protective efficacy, but human studies are underway that will better define the nature of the vaccine’s potential. (Nature.com)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has begun a Phase 3 trial under its Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) program “designed to expand to test multiple different kinds of monoclonal antibody treatments.” COVID-19 patients at select hospitals can now volunteer to participate, and if a treatment is showing promise, more volunteers can be enrolled mid-trial.

The administration’s “Operation Warp Speed” initiative will fund Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline to develop and produce their vaccine candidate, which begins human trials in September.

Evidence is mounting that a significant number of COVID-19 patients will have persistent symptoms after the initial phases of the disease. Some problems, like heart damage, are particularly alarming since they may be permanent. Others, like “brain fog,” make life particularly difficult and their duration is ill-defined. (Science.com)

Sciencemag: Genomic analysis by Deng et al. revealed that Northern California experienced a complex series of introductions of the virus, deriving not only from state-to-state transmission but also from international travel by air and ship.

Annoyed by Internet Speeds?

The Washington State Broadband Office and State Public Works Board have launched a mapping initiative to identify gaps in high-speed internet service and areas of broadband infrastructure needs in order to advance the state’s goal to have universal broadband access in Washington by 2024.

Take their 1 minute survey to help build information about our internet service and speeds- click here.

State Guidance Updates

All guidance can be found here. I put the other updates related to schools at the top.
The Governor's page on medium.com is also a good spot to check out- it's more of a narrative, blog like discussion of changes and current issues. It's available here.

Inspiration and Diversions

A college student living in Boston received a surprise gift from a local store after he played an impromptu concert for patrons on Saturday. He played Journey's Don't Stop Believing (there's a video link in the article). The shop owner was inspired and ended up giving him a $3000 piano.

A Japanese robotics startup has invented a smart mask that translates into eight languages (this sounds like Star Trek) (CNN Business article).

City Information

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.

Case Count

Current case count is 100 confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases identified in Mukilteo (1 new case), and 75 individuals who are recovered.

County case counts are available at this link, updated each weekday at 2pm City counts will be updated weekly starting today.

General Resource Links

phase 1 open
phase 2 open
 
   
 
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