UPDATES ON THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND OVERALL HEALTH IMPACTS OF COVID-19 MITIGATION MEASURES IN KING COUNTY, WA

How are you using the data? Share your feedback via this brief survey.                      June 3, 2021

Boxes contain highlights from our detailed Economic, Social, and Overall Health Impacts dashboards. Click on the titles above the boxes to be connected to the topic-specific dashboards. 

ECONOMIC:

Utility assistance: Seattle utility assistance up 30%

Utility assistance: Most new enrollees receiving utility assistance have COVID-19 impacted incomes 

In March 2021, 42,247 households were enrolled in the Seattle Utility Discount program, a 30% increase from March 2019.

Since April 2020, more than 75% of new enrollees in the Seattle utility discount program have COVID-19 impacted incomes.

SOCIAL:

Family violence: domestic violence line calls have remained steady 

Family violence: domestic violence felony charges have remained steady

There were 245 calls to the National Domestic Violence Hotline in April 2021. This is slightly lower than in March 2021, but still a 29% increase compared to January 2020, from which data are available for the full year. 

In March 2021 there were 151 Domestic Violence related felony charge referrals to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. This has remained relatively steady across the pandemic and similar to numbers in 2019.

HEALTH:

Behavioral health: race/ethnicity inequities in unmet behavioral health service needs 

Behavioral health: higher unmet behavioral health service needs for certain groups 

A higher percentage of Hispanic/Latinx adults (17%) reported not getting needed mental health services compared to white adults (13.8%) in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).

Younger age groups and lower household incomes were associated with higher unmet mental health needs in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue MSA. (See below) 

Age and household income are associated with unmet behavioral health service needs in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue Metropolitan Statistical Area

•  A higher percentage of adults age 18-24 and 25-44 reported not getting needed mental health services compared to adults 65 and older.
• Adults with lower household incomes reported increased rates of not getting  needed mental health services, with those earning <$25,000 reporting the highest unmet needs (20.6%).

This work is funded by Public Health — Seattle & King County, the Washington State Department of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’ s (CDC) Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases ( ELC) Cooperative Agreement (CK19 - 1904 ).

For questions, please write COVIDevaluation@kingcounty.gov

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