 | See below for today's COVID-19 information. Please forward as widely as you would like.
I want to hear from you, contact me anytime. | The City's COVID page is a good one-stop shop for information. Today was a day when things seemed to change every time I finished writing this- so I'm sending it out now and will save anything new for tomorrow! The Governor announced the reopening plan for construction. Once they can comply with the Safe Workplace Plan guidelines, they can start work immediately. All businesses can take a look at the released safe work plan guidelines as you prepare for reopening (some more details below on things to consider). The Governor also said today that he would convene stakeholder groups for all other industries to identify procedures when it is time to reopen other sectors. He had no dates for that, but also said that when the State has a plan for more test kits he could announce a more detailed plan. I also think our state's reopening might focus more on how businesses can reopen/what activities are deemed safe, and how the businesses commit to doing them, instead of blanket announcements of types of businesses reopening. | Our Mukiltean of April 24, 2020 is Dr. Alison Brynelson! Dr. Brynelson is our new Mukilteo School superintendent. She started this job in January and has been thrust into this most unique experience of leading our schools in unprecedented times. She is working long hours daily and weekends to put together a comprehensive online program, set up distribution of food and computers to our students in need, keeping staff and students connected, working with teams of administrators, teachers, and parents to ensure that all are getting what they need during this pandemic. She jumped into a fire very shortly after starting her position!! Read a book (or read your kids a book) in honor of Dr. Brynelson today. Do you know someone who deserves to be the Mukiltean of the Day? Nominate them! | Today, I partnered with other Snohomish County Mayors in this message* to our communities. Please take a look, and take heed. Please stay home and stay healthy*, and know that we are working so hard to find clarity and guidelines for our state's next steps. Along with the letter to our communities, we also sent a letter to Governor Inslee, including these thoughts: "We are tremendously proud of the resiliency that Snohomish County communities are demonstrating and our collective success in slowing the spread of COVID-19. However, we’re becoming increasingly concerned about our residents’ rising frustration. ... We would like to offer our assistance in building out the state’s recovery plan:
1. Outlining the conditions under which each and all economic sectors can begin to return to safe operations.
2. Outlining the conditions under which people can recreate, particularly outdoor recreation.
3. Outlining the conditions under which people can gather to worship and pray." | I'm proud of the Mukilteans who are wearing face coverings when they go out. However, too many of us are making a choice to not protect ourselves and others by not wearing a face covering. The CDC has all the different ways to make a face covering, whether you can sew or not. Please check out the link and find a way to keep your face covered when in public. Even if you think you can stay apart from others on your walk, you will help your neighbors if you wear that covering. And, my opinion, it's honestly unacceptable to go to the grocery store without a face covering. Those essential employees don't get to choose who they interact with. It is the least you can do. Pull a scarf around your face if that is your only option. And, let's all be supportive of one another-- a face covering doesn't have to be scary, it is a sign that the other person cares! | Businesses that are closed have an understandable need to DO something. Here are some ideas that you should be thinking about to be ready for reopening. These are amended from the official recommendations, and a good place to start, at least. Check out the full construction guidelines and start your own plan. As you saw today, businesses that are ready with compliance can start immediately. ▪ Keep up with work from home where it's still feasible
▪ Think about how to maintain physical distancing wherever possible of 6 feet, including with visitors/customers
▪ Prepare information about how to limit gatherings of more than 10 people anywhere in your business (not just meetings, but also informal gatherings)
▪ Source cleaning supplies to do sanitization, including sanitization for reopening
▪ Get ready to do symptom checks or temperature checks of your employees (think about conversations with HR to make sure you do this right)
▪ Make a plan for response if employees experience COVID symptoms (CDC guidance helps)
▪ Make sure you're canceling non-essential travel, and think about how to track any employee personal travel, in case quarantine time is needed after their return
▪ Make a plan to log everyone on site each day to help with public health contact tracing. Think broadly- employees, visitors, customers, delivery people?
▪ Assign someone to be responsible for your safe operations plan, and to also receive concerns from employees and visitors
▪ Think about where to post the information about your safe operations plan
▪ Like I said yesterday- get masks or face coverings for employees
▪ Think about telework or alternative work options for employees with concerns about safety who can't or don't want to return
▪ Set up a training plan to educate your team on symptoms of COVID and the safe operations plan and how to be safe at home. Any safe workplace can be sidelined by unsafe behavior at home
| ▪ | Keep up with work from home where it's still feasible | | ▪ | Think about how to maintain physical distancing wherever possible of 6 feet, including with visitors/customers | | ▪ | Prepare information about how to limit gatherings of more than 10 people anywhere in your business (not just meetings, but also informal gatherings) | | ▪ | Source cleaning supplies to do sanitization, including sanitization for reopening | | ▪ | Get ready to do symptom checks or temperature checks of your employees (think about conversations with HR to make sure you do this right) | | ▪ | Make a plan for response if employees experience COVID symptoms (CDC guidance helps) | | ▪ | Make sure you're canceling non-essential travel, and think about how to track any employee personal travel, in case quarantine time is needed after their return | | ▪ | Make a plan to log everyone on site each day to help with public health contact tracing. Think broadly- employees, visitors, customers, delivery people? | | ▪ | Assign someone to be responsible for your safe operations plan, and to also receive concerns from employees and visitors | | ▪ | Think about where to post the information about your safe operations plan | | ▪ | Like I said yesterday- get masks or face coverings for employees | | ▪ | Think about telework or alternative work options for employees with concerns about safety who can't or don't want to return | | ▪ | Set up a training plan to educate your team on symptoms of COVID and the safe operations plan and how to be safe at home. Any safe workplace can be sidelined by unsafe behavior at home | | This article describes how air quality improved in nine cities around the world according to this report. Here's the ranking of cities worldwide, and an interesting live heat map of polluted air from United Nations. | Washington State’s Department of Health (DOH) has a new blog post with a handful of frequently asked questions, with answers! These are some of the questions they address: · Have doctors been told that they will get more money if they say that a person died of COVID-19?
· Is FEMA stealing gloves and masks that were supposed to go to the states?
· Is 5G cell phone technology linked to the cause of coronvirus?
· Was COVID-19 created in a lab?
· How well does my cloth face mask protect me from COVID-19?
· Can you get COVID-19 from a blood transfusion?
· Can I buy a test and check myself at home for COVID-19? For more information check out DOH’s blog post. | Alexa does speak limited Klingon. Just ask Alexa to “speak Klingon.” Happy Friday! Here are 30 fun things you can do at home when you and your family are BORED. Some of these are part of our upcoming SPIRIT WEEK- it starts on Monday! I'll post more on Sunday to get you ready for the week. | Face Covering guidelines from the CDC available here. Interested in donating face covers? Get instructions here: https://mukilteowa.gov/news/directions-to-make-donate-and-use-face-covers-in-snohomish-county/ Follow Physical Distancing Guidelines, stay 6 feet away from anyone you don't live with. Use hand sanitizer/wipes as you enter a grocery store (the Mukilteo QFC has wet wipes available at the entrance). Wash hands immediately upon returning home. Tell Others to also stay at home and stay apart. Give blood- schedule online (to help minimize social contact) at https://www.bloodworksnw.org/donate (no mobile blood drives because they have issues transporting themselves to sites. But they have great procedures in place at their facilities). Leave Some for Your Neighbors, Your Healthcare Providers, and Emergency Responders
• Your actions matter!
• Buy what you need and leave supplies for your neighbors, healthcare providers, and emergency responders. If you feel like you need to reach out for support, do not hesitate to contact the Disaster Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to talk with crisis specialists. They are available 24/7. Looking for ways to help? This state site is a good one stop shop for individuals and businesses: https://www.coronavirus.wa.gov/how-you-can-help | All parks are closed except for 76th Street/Community Garden entrance to Japanese Gulch for trail access. If you want to access Big Gulch, I would encourage you to park at the library, rather than on the street near 92nd Street Park. 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. Remember the non-emergency number at (425) 407-3999 or email cv19violations@mukilteowa.gov. If you have an emergency, call 911. (But don't call with questions about the Governor's order and what's open or not). You can also report violations or questions about violations to the State via this link. For more information on city facilities, see this link. | Current case count is 52 confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases identified in Mukilteo, with no deaths amongst those cases (that's one new one, it's been the same for several days). County case counts are available at this link, updated each weekday at 2pm. If our ratio of recovery is the same as the County, approximately 33 of those cases should be recovered. | FOR BUSINESSES
• Business FAQs on State website
• Learn if your business is considered essential and can continue to operate following the Governor’s March 23 Stay Home, Stay Healthy order.
• Would you like to request to be essential (or not)? Fill out this form: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/d4c155fa930f4b848f95774d610c9708 to petition this issue.
• The Washington Department of Commerce has created a list of crisis planning tools and resources where you can get information about emergency grants, disaster loans, and other small business support.
• The Washington State Department of Revenue has information about tax filing deadlines, extensions, and relief.
• Greater Seattle Partners, City of Seattle, and the Chamber have launched a survey for businesses, freelancers, and gig workers to learn about needs and help target future support.
• Comprehensive and Updated FAQs For Employers on the COVID-19 Coronavirus – Fisher Phillips
• Best practices for when a food service employee gets sick.
• Best practices for food pick up and delivery. • Snohomish County Links
• Local SnoCo resources for businesses
• Federal Small Business Adminstration Loans
• King County Public Health signs for businesses to post FOR INDIVIDUALS
• Cash assistance calculator: from the federal government’s stimulus package, of up to $1,200 per person depending on income, will be sent to households in early April.
• If you have lost your job due to COVID-19, you can file for unemployment benefits.
• Bartender Emergency Assistance Program
• Resources for Restaurant Workers
• Mortgage and Rent. If you don’t have enough money to pay your rent or mortgage, contact your lender or landlord immediately. Otherwise, some suggestions are below:
--Washington Homeownership Hotline (877-894-HOME)
--Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggestions
--Rental assistance & counseling (800-569-4287)
--List of Housing Counseling Agencies
--For renters, the Governor issued a statewide moratorium on evictions of residential tenants for non-payment of rent until April 17
• Federal Student loans. If you need help with your student loans, you may be able to temporarily suspend your payments by applying for a deferment or forbearance from the US Department of Education.
• Utility bills. If you need help paying your utility bills, contact your service provider immediately.
--Puget Sound Energy and PUD will not shut off service during the emergency. Most utilities also offer assistance programs for people in need.
--The Utilities and Transportation Commission offers energy assistance programs.
--The federal government offers assistance programs to help with telephone and heating bills.
o Comcast is offering free WiFi hot spots, unlimited data, and no disconnects or late fees.
• Health Insurance. The Washington State Insurance Commissioner has information about health insurance, as well as how to get insurance through the Washington State Exchange if you need it.
• Food assistance. If you need help with food, every school district in the state is providing grab and go lunches for children, and there is additional help at many local food banks including the Mukilteo Food Bank.
• WIC food assistance is still available, as well.
• The Mukilteo Boys and Girls club is open and available for childcare. "Our staff is committed to helping our members with their distance learning, and working with the district to facilitate that here at the club! In appreciation of their efforts to keep our community safe and healthy, healthcare workers will receive free childcare during this time. In appreciation for the hard work all our families are doing, we are offering a very discounted child care rate to help them through this time." FOR EVERYONE
• If you feel like you need to reach out for support, do not hesitate to contact the Disaster Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to talk with crisis specialists. They are available 24/7.
• Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County has their 24 hour support hotline available for those not feeling safe at home- 425-252-2873
• Restaurants that are open for take out or delivery- access this list, https://discovermukilteo.org/2020/03/17/what-restaurants-are-open/ developed by city staff with great support from business owners in the community.
• This is another countywide link, https://localsnoco.com/ with similar info.
• Special Shopping Hours for Seniors, Other At-Risk People
A number of local grocery stores have special shopping hours for senior citizens and others with vulnerable immune systems.
QFC begins this week, 7-8am Monday-Thursday.
Albertsons, Haggen, and Safeway Tues. & Thurs. from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.; Target Wednesdays, first hour after opening; Whole Foods Daily, one hour before opening to the general public.
• Discounted laptops for nonprofits and low-income households • Social/Sober Support
Alcoholics Anonymous
Narcotics Anonymous
Unity Recovery
Suboxone Forum
Support Groups Central
LifeRing Secular Recovery
SOS
In the Rooms
Medication Assisted Recovery (MARA) | | |
