Public Health news and blog

Research published on social distancing and mobility; local sports stars join Public Health – Seattle & King County’s Stand Together. Stay Apart. campaign; new recovery sites open

April 13, 2020

Summary

New research shows decreases in mobility associated with social distancing policies. Local sports stars join Public Health – Seattle & King County’s Stand Together. Stay Apart. campaign to promote the importance of social distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19. Two new COVID-19 recovery sites are now open.

Story

Public policies on social distancing correlated with mobility reductions

Researchers studied four US cities, including the Seattle metro-area, looking at the relationship between public policies encouraging social distancing and changes in mobility. They published the findings today in the scholarly journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

They found that public policies encouraging social distancing practices were correlated with a reduction in mobility in all four cities.

This analysis reinforces other recent studies that show people in our community are heeding public health directives to stay home and the spread of COVID-19 is slowing," said Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County. "But before we can feel comfortable relaxing social distancing measures, we need to further decrease transmission and have widespread testing availability and public health systems in place to quickly identify people who are infected and their close contacts to help them isolate and quarantine."

Sports stars join Stand Together. Stay Apart. public education campaign

Russell Wilson, Sue Bird, Nicolás Lodeiro and Megan Rapinoe have joined Public Health's COVID-19 public education campaign to encourage King County residents to “Stand Together. Stay Apart." These athletes are appearing in ads showing that the most important actions to slow the spread of COVID-19 and protect our healthcare system are to stay home and stay six feet away from others when you must go out, such as for an essential job or to buy groceries.

The campaign is funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is running on digital and social media platforms as well as TV and radio spots donated by regional business partners including Windemere, Puget Sound Energy, Washington State Association of Broadcasters, Microsoft, Washington Roundtable and Facebook.

Local sports stars join Stand Together. Stay Apart. public education campaign

For additional information about COVID-19 and the response in King County, be sure to check our webpage: www.kingcounty.gov/covid

Everyone, even people who are young and healthy, must stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19. Each individual's actions affect the health of our entire community, and what we do as a community protects us all. Stand Together, Stay Apart.

Case updates

Daily totals for new COVID-19 cases and deaths are available on Public Health's Data Dashboard webpage, which updates as soon as data are available, typically between 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Isolation and quarantine facilities update

Isolation and quarantine is a proven public health practice for reducing the spread of disease. Examples of people who may need this assistance include people who cannot safely isolate from a family member who is elderly or medically fragile, or people experiencing homelessness. Individuals can only be placed into the King County sites after a health professional with Public Health has determined that they need isolation or quarantine.

Sixty-six people are currently staying in King County isolation and quarantine facilities.

The Assessment and Recovery Center in Shoreline has opened and is now available to provide isolation and quarantine assistance to help residents who are not able to isolate and recovery in their own home. King County is excited to partner with Kaiser Permanente Washington who will be providing personnel onsite for health care services. Care includes nursing and mental health expertise for individuals with complex medical and co-occurring disorders.

The Harborview Hall isolation and recovery site operated by Harborview Medical Center is also open and accepting individuals needing health care assistance due to COVID-19.

The number of residents at King County's isolation and quarantine sites is included in regular updates provided by Public Health. No other identifying or personal information will be provided.

NOTE: Public Health Media Release schedule change

Starting today, Public Health will distribute updates through a Media Release on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Exceptions will be made when important news must be distributed through a Media Release, on any day of the week.
Public Health publishes new information frequently through the Public Health Insider blog – please consider becoming a subscriber by choosing the option to "Follow Blog Via Email."
Daily totals for new cases of COVID-19 and deaths are available on the Data Dashboard webpage, which updates as soon as data are available, typically between 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.