8 Archive of Situation Report Items from August 2020
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ARCHIVE OF SITUATION REPORT ITEMS FROM AUGUST 2020 • Vashon schools opened today with online-only teaching due to pandemic safety conditions. The School District has set up a response system for families having trouble connecting or encountering other technical challenges. There's help available at the School District page for technology and online learning: https://www.vashonsd.org/Page/1725. If the info on the page isn't solving the problem, click on the link to submit a "trouble ticket" for advanced assistance. (8/31/20) • King County Metro continues to operate on a reduced schedule and with suspended fare collection through the month of September. Metro’s customer service office in Pioneer Square will reopen with reduced hours tomorrow Sept. 1st. Wearing a face covering is required while waiting for or riding any transit service. https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/transportation/metro/schedules-maps/reduced- schedule.aspx (8/31/20) • 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 Sept. 27. https://www.insurance.wa.gov/news/kreidler-extends-two-emergency-orders-coronavirus (8/31/20) • Washington State Department of Health (DOH) released the latest report that shows COVID-19 cases hitting a plateau in some areas of Washington. The reproductive number (Re) -- how many new people each COVID-19 patient will infect -- remained close to one as of mid-August. The best estimate of the reproductive number at that time was 0.86 in western Washington and in King County the Re is 0.9. The goal is a number well below one, which would mean COVID-19 transmission is declining. https://www.doh.wa.gov/Newsroom/Articles/ID/1355/New-report-shows-COVID-19-cases-hitting-a- plateau-in-some-areas-of-Washington-state (8/31/20) • Gov. Inslee has issued a proclamation enabling greater use of transportation resources for remote learning for K-12 student. The order comes just in time for the start of school on Monday. It permits using buses and bus drivers to deliver educational materials (homework/educational packets/other tangible instructional materials); meals; and any technology (like WiFi hotspots) that will enable students to learn remotely. School districts also may transport students to and from learning centers. https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/proclamations/proc_20-70.pdf (8/28/20) • Public Health - Seattle & King County reported some changing trends in the transmission of COVID- 19 in the last 14 day period, compared to averages since the start of the pandemic. In the most recent 14 day period 45% of the positive cases have been linked to transmission within the household, an increase from 38%. The other noteworthy change is a decrease in transmission linked to essential workers at 19% down from 25%. The two other transmission categories are within the community (26% vs. 24%) and infection from close contact (21% vs. 23%). In 19% of the cases there was no known transmission source. (8/28/20) • The University of Washington’s Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has updated their latest model which forecasts 317,000 US deaths by December 1st. The current model uses drivers of transmission (mobility, mask use, testing and seasonality) based on current trends and adherence to recommendations. The model also forecasts the transmission impact of improved mask usage to 95%, which would save 67,000 lives. http://www.healthdata.org/covid/updates (8/28/20) • Washington State Department of Health reminds Washingtonians that the guidance regarding testing has not changed. If you have symptoms, you need to get tested. If you’re a close contact of a confirmed case, you need to get tested. Close contacts of confirmed cases also need to stay at home away from others (quarantine) for 14 days after the last exposure even if they test negative for COVID- 19, because it is possible for people who test negative to still be incubating the virus, and become contagious later. If you have been exposed to a confirmed case getting testing too soon after an exposure may give you a negative result, even if you’ve been infected. If exposed and you don’t develop symptoms, waiting 5-6 days after exposure to get a test is recommended. If exposed and you develop symptoms, testing that day or the next is recommended. People must stay in quarantine for the entire 14 days even if a test is negative. (8/28/20) • If you need testing on Vashon, call 844 469-4554 to be screened for the testing criteria and make an appointment at the Medical Reserve Corps testing program. (8/28/20) 8 • FEMA has approved a new, limited time, Lost Wages Grant for Washington State. Under the Lost Wages Assistance program funding will allow Washington to provide $300 per week -- on top of their regular unemployment benefit. Unlike the old $600 unemployment boost, the grant covers only three weeks of unemployment filings. Also, the previously widely reported $400 boost cited in the President’s executive order assumed the state would provide $100 of local funding, which Washington State says it cannot afford. https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20200824/fema-announces-lost-wages-grant- washington (8/26/20) • Washington State Employment Security Department has a program for employers to offset unemployment benefits charges. The offset might reduce employer unemployment taxes in 2021 if they are on that program rather than the reimbursement unemployment method. The offset applies to unemployment benefits that ESD paid in the first two quarters of 2020 to employees who were temporarily laid off as a direct or indirect result of COVID-19; and have since returned to work. https://esd.wa.gov/employer-taxes/offset (8/26/20) • The Washington State Employment Security Department job-search waiver is currently set to expire 09/01/2020. If it is not extended again, you will need to conduct and report job-search activities for Sept. 6-12, 2020. ESD has published a job-search log sample and a list of job-search requirements for unemployed workers, but has not yet published anything specific for the self- employed. Visit: https://esd.wa.gov/unemployment/job-search-requirements (8/26/20) • A new study published in Nature has found that older men are up to twice as likely to become severely sick and to die from the coronavirus as women of the same age. The findings suggest that men, particularly those over 60, may be more reliant on a vaccine once one becomes available. “Natural infection is clearly failing” to spark adequate immune responses in men, said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale. The findings underscore the need for companies pursing vaccines to parse their data by gender and may influence decisions about dosing, said Dr. Marcus Altfeld, an immunologist at the Heinrich Pette Institute and at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2700-3 (8/26/20) • A report by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Oxford found that the current guidance for safe social distancing may not be enough to stop the spread of COVID-19. The researchers say other factors, such as ventilation, crowd size, exposure time and whether face coverings are worn, need to be considered, as well. Some evidence suggests that the coronavirus may travel more than 6 feet through activities like coughing and shouting, the researchers wrote. In the highest-risk situations, such as indoors with poor ventilation, large crowds, prolonged contact time and no face coverings, distancing beyond 6 feet should be considered. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/6-feet-may-not-always-be-enough-distance-protect- covid-n1238083 (8/26/20) • 4 Paws Veterinary Clinic has reopened after closing as a precaution due to an employee’s secondary exposure to a COVID positive person. The employee and the spouse who works at 4 Paws have both tested negative and the clinic has resumed normal operations. (8/24/20) • Dr. Chris Murray, the chair of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington said computer models predict that the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in the United States could spike to as high as 6,000 people a day by December in the worst- case scenario. Currently, about 1,000 people are dying daily from the coronavirus in the US. In a new model released Friday, researchers at IHME predicted the number of daily deaths will decrease slowly in September -- then rise to nearly 2,000 a day by the start of December. Murray told CNN if we don't do anything at all, the daily death toll in the US would be much higher than the 2,000 deaths a day by December. The new IHME forecast projects 310,000 deaths by December -- 15,000 more than the previous forecast two weeks ago. While coronavirus infections are dropping in some areas, the death rate is not. If mask use increased in the US to 95%, the number of deaths could drop by almost 70,000, Murray added. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/22/health/us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html (8/24/20) • The Red Cross is offering free emergency preparedness training for youth through The Pillowcase Project. The project’s free virtual training is for students in grades 3-5 (ages 8-11). Presentations will teach kids how to stay safe during a home fire and earthquake, and to use coping skills to manage 8 stress during emergencies.