It’s here
One person in King County has died due to a novel coronavirus infection, Public Health – Seattle & King County officials announced Saturday morning. It is the first death attributed to the virus in the United States.
Two people connected to a Kirkland long-term care facility have tested positive, officials said Saturday afternoon. A resident in her 70s is in serious condition, and a health employee in her 40s is stable. The long-term facility in Kirkland has 108 residents and 180 employees, according to the CDC.
At the Kirkland facility, 27 residents and 25 employees have symptoms.
So that’s not good.
Kirkland is 11 miles from where I’m sitting.
All local cases announced Saturday were acquired through “community transmission” in the Seattle area, said Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, health officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County. That means none of the patients had traveled overseas.
Somebody tell Trump.
Gov. Jay Inslee has declared a state of emergency in response to the new cases. The proclamation allows state agencies to “use all resources necessary to prepare for and respond to the outbreak.”
Okay then.
Stay safe as you can Ophelia and let’s hope your local authorities are up to the task, since Trump et al are clearly not. The especially concerning thing with your local case is that stuff at the hospital feature heavily amongst the infected.
We also have our confirmed case, although that is a returning traveller. Luckily our authorities have been geared up for this for some time.
Everyone: remember that emergency preparedness is important! It may seem silly or paranoid to gather an emergency preparedness kit but it’s not! Every person should be aware of how easy it is for the systems we rely on to fall apart in a crisis — even temporarily. You only have to do this once: get a small backpack, fill it with emergency stuff and leave it in the back of the closet and forget it. When the inevitable emergency comes, you’ll thank yourself profusely. And so will your friends, family and neighbours who you will be able to help.
In the case of a pandemic, mass quarantines can take effect (like in China and Italy) which can make it difficult for you to access banking services (try to have a stash of paper cash on hand) or food (have at least three days’ worth of canned food the house always). Prolonged crises can lead to power irregularity (cutting off phones, the Internet, ATMs, etc) and civil unrest. Have a first-aid kit, a sanitary kit, backup for your meds and ID, as well as flashlights, batteries, a battery- or solar-powered radio, and some of those silver-foil emergency “space blankets” in your house. Even fresh water can become an issue in some crises. (The Pacific Northwest, being vulnerable to earthquakes, means you’re probably already prepared, Ophelia!)
I work in the service industry in a VERY multinational city so it’s quite likely COVID-19 is gonna hit us hard (as SARS did — oh god SARS was BRUTAL to Toronto!) and it’s possible most of the service industry could be shut down this summer if mass quarantines go into effect. Which would basically kill my job and decimate me financially. Serious stuff!
Now go log onto Netflix and watch Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion again, because everyone should watch Contagion always. (If only for the schadenfreude of watching Gwyneth Paltrow’s character die from a real disease that no amount of vaginal jade eggs or GOOP! cleanse kits can save her from….)
I should add…
With COVID-19 looming, you’ve got a good excuse now to start some otherwise weird-sounding but important conversations with friends and family: email them and bring up the topic of a shared meeting-place if you all lose communication. Bring up plans for getting out of the city if needed (who’s got a cabin/cottage and who can share it if needed?, that kind of thing.). Print onto paper photographs of loved ones and write their names on them. (OK that’s more for like a mega-earthquake or more severe kind of scenario but still…) Have paper maps of the state/province on hand; GPS doesn’t always work in a crisis.
There are some basic and common sense measures to stay safe >>
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/preparing-individuals-communities.html
No need to hunker down for the Zombie Apocalypse yet, haha…