COVID-19 weekly email alert for March 17, 2022

King County, Washington sent this bulletin at 03/17/2022 07:49 PM PDT

What King County's mask mandate rollback means for you, Public Health Insider blog

While King County's masking policy ended on March12th, individuals will now be able to make their own choices as to whether they want to continue wearing masks, and businesses may decide whether they want to require employees and customers to wear masks. Read our blog post to learn more about what does this mean for you.

New mask posters for businesses that choose to continue their own masking policies

Two new mask posters have been created for businesses, schools and childcares, and other organizations that choose to have their own mask requirements after the government requirement for masks is lifted. Download the posters from the Masking Guidance page (located at bottom of page).

What's best for your family? Considerations for masking at school and child care, Public Health Insider blog

Since the indoor mask mandate was lifted on March 12, families will be making decisions about masks for their kids in schools and child care. Here is information to help inform those decisions.

Youth and summer camps information updated

The Schools and Child care webpage has updated the Youth and Summer Camps information to include a link to new guidance from Washington Department of Health effective March 12th.

The update schedule for two data dashboards is changing

  • The Syndromic surveillance dashboard, which shows emergency department visits and hospitalizations for COVID-like illness and pneumonia at King County healthcare facilities, is changing from being updated weekly on Thursdays to being updated on weekly on Tuesdays.

  • The COVID-19 community-level dashboard, which shows the current COVID-19 community level for King County, is changing from being updated weekly on Thursdays to being updated three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

New resources for the COVID-19 Homeless response page

New printable labels are available to help with ventilation and sanitation efforts at homeless services sites including:

  • A label for HEPA air purifiers, located under "Ventilation" in the Guidance section
  • A set of labels for chemical spray bottles under "Sanitation" in the Guidance section

COVID media briefing with Dr. Jeff Duchin, King County's health officer, Public Health Insider blog

King County Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin held a public briefing on March 11, 2022, answering questions from the news media and members of the community, including questions about the lifting of the indoor mask mandate. A transcript and video of the briefing is available on our blog in case you missed the live broadcast.

Executive Constantine's ninth COVID-19 emergency budget funds $55 million in Public Health response, Executive news release

King County Executive Dow Constantine this week transmitted the ninth COVID-19 supplemental budget to the King County Council. The $157 million budget includes $55 million for Public Health to continue testing and isolation and quarantine centers.

  • 370,112 total positive cases in King County
    • 172 daily average cases
    • 1,207 new cases over the last 7 days (-31% decrease)
    • 53.4 cases per 100,000 residents over the last 7 days

  • 11,216 total hospitalizations
    • 4 daily average hospitalizations (-41% decrease over last 7 days)
    • 26 hospitalizations over the last 7 days
    • 1.2 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents over the last 7 days
    • 2.1% of cases hospitalized over the last 7 days

  • 2,647 overall deaths
    • 3 daily average deaths
    • 46 new deaths over the last 14 days (-44% decrease from the prior 14 days)
    • 2.0 deaths per 100,000 residents over the past 14 days
    • 1.4% of cases died over the past 14 days

All other COVID-19 dashboards are posted at www.kingcounty.gov/covid/data

View this COVID-19 weekly email alert online