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The two-week case rate for the period ending Oct. 17 is the highest it has been since the first wave of COVID-19 in early 2020. The rate has increased from 70.6 per 100,000 population in last week’s update to 101.1 per 100,000 in today’s update.
This pandemic has been a long haul already, and we’re still in it. Although it can be challenging, we need – now more than ever – for people to take steps to reduce the spread of illness.
- Mask up
- Wash your hands
- Stay home and away from others if you don’t feel well
- Keep your social group small (5 or fewer from outside your household in a 7-day period)
- Clean and sanitize the surfaces you touch most often
 Snohomish County and the region are facing two overlapping economic shocks. First, the COVID-19 pandemic and its painful impacts on small businesses, manufacturing, and tourism. Second, Boeing’s announcement that it will consolidate production of the 787 in South Carolina. These shocks have caused hardship and anxiety in households across the county.
One option to help ease the economic shocks the County is facing is to help businesses more successfully compete locally, nationally, and globally. With a gold standard workforce development system, we can help people get back to work, businesses recover, and the economy grow.
In anticipation of a shock like the one we are experiencing in 2020, Snohomish County undertook a bold initiative in 2019 to reform our workforce system and create THE gold standard of workforce development that will serve as a model within the State of Washington and across the country. To create the gold standard, Snohomish County incorporated the Local Workforce Board into our County structures and renamed it the “Future Workforce Alliance.”
The Future Workforce Alliance is chaired by Kim Williams, Chief Executive Officer at Providence Health & Services Northwest, with Board members representing large and small employers, local education institutions, and key workforce partners from across Snohomish County. The Alliance’s charge is to create a stronger and nimbler economic and workforce development system that establishes Snohomish County as the national gold standard for workforce development, provides opportunity for local businesses and workers throughout the County, and supports broad-based opportunity and economic growth. The Alliance will formulate strategies to strengthen local businesses, support workers, and assist unemployed workers as they launch new careers.
These workforce efforts are intended to be one piece of our larger economic recovery project, from grant programs for small businesses to support for non-profits. With our gold standard workforce development, we will be providing support to those who have lost much this year and paving the way for our return to full economic health.
 Watch the weekly update from Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers and Snohomish Health District's Health Officer Dr. Chris Spitters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkBEVmq669U
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