Recapping today’s COVID-19 news and updates

— from Emergency Operations Center, Camp Murray —

Numbers. For the most recent tally of cases by county, demographics, and more, visit the Department of Health’s website.

DOH statement on testing data delay June 10.The Department of Health is committed to continued data transparency. However, a technical issue is preventing DOH from updating some of today’s testing data on both the governor’s dashboard and the DOH dashboard. The DOH dashboard will have some updated data soon, but both dashboards will be impacted for the next 12- 24 hours.

We anticipate having the issue resolved by Thursday afternoon, with both dashboards having updated data.

Three counties approved to move into new phases. Washington State Secretary of Health John Wiesman approved three additional counties to move into the next phase of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Safe Start plan. Chelan and Douglas counties are approved to move into a modified version of Phase 1 and Asotin County is approved to move from Phase 2 to Phase 3. Full news release here. 

County status is updated daily on the state’s COVID-19 website. 

Important reminder: Stop the spread by staying local. As counties are reopening and the weather warms up, it can be tempting to hit the road for a hike or day trip out of town. To prevent COVID-19 from spreading across county lines, it’s important to stay close to home. Remember, staying home is still safest, but if you do go out: stay six feet from others, wear a face covering, wash your hands, and stay local. Printable flyers: Horizontal (pdf) Vertical (pdf)

Have questions about face coverings for employees? What does it mean to be “working alone?” What if my employee has a health condition that makes it unsafe to wear a mask? L&I has a new Q&A to help employers understand the new requirements around face coverings in the workplace. This is in addition to their recent guide, Which Mask for Which Task?.

Inslee announces #WearAMaskWA challenge. Wearing a facial covering is one of the easiest, most effective things we can all do to prevent the spread of this virus. The governor announced the state has already made emergency distributions of more than 1 million cloth facial coverings with another 4 million masks on order. The state has teamed up with Restart Partners to launch the “Wear A Mask” Initiative and is asking Washingtonians to submit videos of themselves answering the question: “Why do you wear a mask?” You can learn more and participate in this effort by visiting  restart.us/WearAMaskWA/.

Inslee calls for federal action on PPE. Today Gov. Jay Inslee sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence calling for federal action to address persistent shortages of PPE and to adequately protect healthcare and frontline workers, including by invoking the Defense Production Act. Read the letter here.

Long Term Care Facility (LCTF) Data Reporting. As of June 9, a total of 4,026 COVID-19 cases (17% of total cases) and 716 deaths (62% of total deaths) have been identified as associated with a long term care facility, including nursing home, assisted living facility or adult family home. These cases may include residents as well as employees and visitors, and currently, we have limited ability to distinguish amongst them.

• These numbers have been identified using several sources of information including interviews with patients, medical record review and cross-matching address information.
• We cannot say for certain that all of these cases were exposed at a LTCF. Many cases visited multiple places during their exposure period, and some individuals may have visited a LTCF after disease onset.
• Data are updated as we receive information that is more complete and may change over time as we learn more. We are working to improve this information going forward.

Resources

Washington 211 COVID-19 Call Center. Do you need information or answers to your questions and concerns about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)? You can call 1-800-525-0127 or text 211-211 for help. You can also text the word “Coronavirus” to 211-211 to receive information and updates on your phone wherever you are. You will receive links to the latest information on COVID-19, including county-level updates, and resources for families, businesses, students, and more. 

Interested in volunteering during disasters and significant events like COVID-19? Register with the Washington State Emergency Registry of Volunteers (WAserv) to partner with public health and others who need assistance in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.