The March 4th, 2020 Transportation Utilities Committee meeting will come back to order.
The time is 1.03 p.m.
I'm Alex Peterson, Chair of the Committee, and we're joined by Councilmembers Mosqueda, Straus, Lewis, and Morales.
Thank you.
And the purpose is to move into an executive session.
As I stated when I recessed the committee, it's for the purposes of reconvening to hold an executive session to get legal advice on the Civil Emergency Proclamation issued by Mayor Durkin.
So now I'm gonna call for the executive session.
As presiding officer, I'm announcing that the Seattle City Council will now convene an executive session.
Oh, we're gonna, that's great.
If that's the plan, is it?
So thank you for that advice, which I took under advisement.
And we'll move on to going into executive session.
So as presiding officer, I'm announcing that the Seattle City Council will now convene an executive session.
And the purpose of the executive session is to discuss pending potential or actual litigation.
The council's executive sessions are an opportunity for the council to discuss confidential legal matters with city attorneys as authorized by law.
A legal monitor from the city attorney's office is always present to ensure the council reserves questions of policy for open sessions.
I expect the executive session to end at 1.45 p.m.
If the executive session is to be extended beyond that time, I will announce the extension and the expected duration.
Thank you.
We're coming back into public session because there's breaking news on the coronavirus that we want the public to see through Seattle Channel.
So please bear with us here.
Thank you.
We have a CDC team that's been on site and continues to be on site at Life Care providing infection control guidance to their team.
They're working with the leadership of the facility as well to facilitate infection control strategies to protect the residents and the caregivers.
We understand, again, how stressful this is.
This is a very uncertain time.
There's a lot that we don't know.
There's a lot that we don't understand about this new virus, about how it's moving, the spectrum of illness that it causes, and how it's transmitted.
But we are doing our very best to ensure that we provide the highest level of guidance to protect the health and safety of our community and of our health care workers that are caring for our community members.
I also have received a number of e-mails from family members at Life Care, and I want to apologize to all of them because I haven't had time to return those e-mails personally, although I would very much have liked to.
I understand that they are very concerned, and rightly so, about the health of their loved ones in the facility.
And I want them to know that I am as well, and that we are doing everything possible to make sure the facility gets any staff, any training, and any assistance that they require to make sure that their loved ones that are in that facility get the best possible care.
We are planning to develop a team to make sure everyone in that facility can be tested for COVID-19, but I want the families to understand that the care that they receive is not dependent on the results of their test.
Remember that there is no specific treatment for this disease.
There's no preventive measure.
So whether or not they test positive or negative, they will still go to a healthcare facility if they require to go to a healthcare facility because of their medical condition.
It's good for us to know But at this point, we assume that if someone is in that facility, they likely have been infected or at high risk for infection and they're being managed as if they are.
We'll continue to provide updates as we get new information.
And I just want to remind again that COVID-19 can cause severe disease, as we see in the context of the life care outbreak, but that for many of us, the disease is mild and moderate.
The vast majority of people do not require hospitalization.
or medical care for that matter.
And we do encourage people who have mild illnesses, please don't overload our area healthcare facilities.
Please don't go to the emergency department.
If you're worried about your health, please call your healthcare provider before you go in.
They're now going to turn the podium over to County Executive Dow Constantine to talk about some measures that we are recommending to help individuals in the community decrease their risk of COVID-19 as this outbreak continues to progress.
Thank you, Dr. Duchin, and thanks to everyone for being here today.
I want to join in expressing my deep concern for the residents of Life Center and what they're experiencing today and to acknowledge the families, the families who've lost loved ones, the families who are concerned for their loved ones who are there at the facility.
And to those who are recovering, our community stands with you in these difficult times.
This is a shifting landscape, really shifting by the hour.
And as this outbreak progresses, public health leaders and policymakers must adapt and establish new sets of expectations and recommendations.
We have multiple objectives.
We are determined to slow the spread of this virus in the community.
We are determined to protect those who are most vulnerable, our older residents, those with compromised immune systems and others.
And in doing those things, we also want to protect our economy, to make sure that we're able to continue to have people be employed, to have people be able to work.
The reality is this.
The more we slow down the spread of this virus, the more we slow down the disease, the greater the chances of keeping people healthy, of saving lives.
As such, we are recommending, though to be clear, we are neither requiring or mandating additional steps to minimize this outbreak.
For older people, which my staff and public health have defined as people over 60, with underlying health conditions, I think that that is going to be something that is considered on a case-by-case basis.
And for those who are pregnant, we are recommending that we stay home and avoid large gatherings as much as possible.
We are encouraging employers to maximize telecommuting and to make it possible for employees who can work from home to do so.
Community groups should avoid creating large gatherings, and the rule of thumb that public health has recommended is gatherings of more than 10 people.
Again, you're going to hear this often from us.
Those who are sick must stay home.
Please stay home.
And if you are ill, please call your doctor's office.
Don't go in and expose others.
Don't go in and overwhelm the medical system.
Public Health Director Patty Hayes will soon explain public health is not making a recommendation to close schools.
It's a question that comes up often.
As an employer and a regional government, King County is following these recommendations ourselves.
We are putting them into practice.
All non-essential King County convened large group meetings will be canceled for the next three weeks or through the end of March, and we're going to reassess that decision as we move forward.
Employees who can telecommute are going to be encouraged to do so.
We're going to plan to do this for the coming three weeks, but I'm going to have us reassess at the end of each week to determine whether our measures need to be adjusted.
We want to make sure that we're doing the right thing, both to protect employees from becoming ill and to ensure that services are continuing to flow to the public.
We have a diverse workforce, and many of our dedicated public servants must report for work in person.
Telecommuting is not an option.
They serve our public directly.
Let me give the example of bus drivers.
This, of course, raises equity issues within our workforce.
That is a reality that we and other employers are going to have to wrestle with.
But we are committed to making sure that those employees who are reporting in person for work can stay safe, can stay healthy, and can stay on the job serving the public.
As you know, we are continuing to site facilities for the isolation and treatment of those who've been exposed to the virus.
We've placed modular units near White Center.
And we chose that location because we own the land, the site has access to utilities, and with our emergency waiver that I've signed, we can expedite construction.
I understand the community has questions, as will all communities, and we are answering those questions.
But I want to be clear, we must move quickly, move quickly to stay ahead of this outbreak.
Every location that we select will be set up and staffed and monitored appropriately, and we are seeking additional locations wherever available throughout all of King County.
At this time, I can announce that we have secured two additional locations for modular units, one at Interbay and one in North Seattle.
We have finalized the purchase of the motel I mentioned a couple of days ago, and that is located in Kent.
We're working with the community and hope to have it operational within days.
And for those of you who are interested, our communications folks have the address of that facility, and they're going to be offering a tour of it this afternoon.
These are stressful times.
This virus will test our resiliency and it will test our compassion and our ability to look out for one another.
We are answering thousands of questions, questions from media, questions from community members, from businesses, from other governments.
At the same time, this situation requires us to act with urgency.
We all need to be in this together.
People from across our region have reached out asking what they can do to help.
It's been tremendously gratifying.
And we are coping with the most serious outbreak of COVID-19 anywhere in the nation.
Our actions are forming the model that will be followed in other parts of the country.
We will get through this.
Our entire government, particularly the scientists and public health leaders who are working around the clock, day after day, are committed to returning our community to normal as quickly as possible.
I'd like to introduce to you the Director of Public Health Seattle and King County, Patty Hayes.
Thank you, Dow.
I want to start by echoing what Dr. Duchin and Executive Constantine have said about how we're approaching this novel virus and its risk to the public, our deep concern for the situation at Life Care and the community as a whole as we face this unprecedented challenge.
Your cooperation and your patience are vital to the community's success and ability to stop the spread of COVID-19.
So today, public health Seattle King County is taking proactive steps to protect the health of our community by making these recommendations.
As you've heard, they're meant to slow the spread of novel coronavirus in our community and reduce the number of people infected.
You know, first on my mind is always our entire community as public health.
I think about all communities, all communities' needs.
And then, knowing what's happening with this virus, my mind and concern goes specifically to the stress on the healthcare system and the providers that are working in the field right now, our first responders.
It's under incredible stress right now as we work to plan, coordinate, and assist those who are in need right now.
As you've heard, the distancing measures that we're recommending are essential because we need to slow the spread of disease to the point where our health care system can continue to be able to handle the load.
We do not want the situation that has been seen in other areas in other countries where the health care system was overloaded and unable to cope.
So the measures that I'm talking to you about today work to achieve that.
And as Executive Count Constantine said, we will be assessing this every day, actually, in my job, and we'll be meeting with the executive on a regular basis.
A second reason we're doing this relates to the potential, even if it's a small potential, to prevent the outbreak from spreading and growing.
You know, it's a new virus, and I've been telling people to talk to their neighbors who have questions about that, because I get the question, what's different from this than the flu?
And I go back to what we've talked to you about before.
There are three things.
Number one, it's a new virus.
There's no immunity to that.
So we must be looking at those things that we can do with that in mind that people are faced without immunity.
Now, we know that 80 percent of people will not have serious issues, can be handled and may be sick at home, but will be okay.
It's at 20 percent.
that can get severe illness, where we want to do these measures so that we're protecting everybody.
Secondly, there's no treatment for this virus right now.
As you heard Dr. Duchin say, regardless of what the test shows, the treatment right now is what we would normally do for somebody who is having these flu-like, pneumonia-like, and severe lung infections.
I know there are people who are working very hard on treatment, and I applaud them.
That's happening locally, nationally, and around the world.
Thirdly, there's no immunization, no vaccine for this.
That's again being scientifically driven as quickly as possible.
But for right now, my job is to recommend the best we can do to protect our community now.
So specifically, we understand that the actions have a tremendous impact.
And so we're starting with those things that we're recommending, not mandating.
I want to reemphasize that.
So first, for vulnerable people, let me repeat that people who are at higher risk of severe illness should try and stay home and away from large groups as much as possible, including public places where lots of people gather.
For workplaces, as the executive mentioned, we're recommending that workplaces take steps that enable people who can work from home to do so.
Taking these measures can help reduce the number of workers who come into contact with COVID-19 and help minimize absenteeism due to illness.
Employers should maximize telecommuting.
for as many employees as possible.
Employers should urge employees to stay home when they're sick.
I can't emphasize that enough.
Sometimes we are our own worst when we're sick and we come to work, aren't we?
We need to support each other for when we're sick, we stay home.
I've also encouraged employers to start staggering start and end times.
That reduces the large number of people coming in and out at the same time on our mass transit.
I've even noticed a difference on I-5 since we started messaging it.
I don't know if any of you have.
Regarding events and community gatherings, If you can feasibly avoid large groups of people together, consider postponing those meetings.
We're talking to community-based organizations, we're talking to employers, and we're talking to our groups who are coming and want to come to Seattle.
We are asking all of our residents to take these steps and slow the spread.
Now let me talk specifically about schools.
We're in dynamic conversations with schools on a daily basis.
Public health is not recommending closing schools at this time unless there has been a confirmed case within that school.
The reason we are not recommending school closures is because children have not been shown to be a high-risk group, which can be so much different than what we expect for other illnesses.
Children who have compromised immune systems are, of course, in that other category that we need to be very careful with.
Now, we respect every school's individual decision about closure or postponement of activities, as each school knows the needs of their community and is talking to their parents and their community lifetime.
As I said, if there's a confirmed case in the school, public health will work with that, particularly school and the district, to determine what measures are best to protect.
And this could include the closure, and we will determine with that school the number of days and when reopening would occur.
You know, schools are doing the important work of educating our children.
We don't want to disrupt that unless we know coronavirus exposure risks are there.
In addition to schools closures that can be disruptive and costly for families, we know that as we're looking at this, we're assessing the potential benefits and the negative consequences of closures.
We're learning from other experiences elsewhere because we know when schools are closed, children go other places and we need to be mindful of that.
Overall hygiene that we've talked to you about in our last number of releases and press conferences remains a key strategy.
As you heard Executive Constantine and Dr. Duchin say, please, if you're not feeling well, if you're home and you're ill, call your health care provider before you show up.
We are talking to those health care providers about helping people on the phone and be screened so we don't crowd the rooms at the clinics.
You know, some are already working on all this.
As I said, we're seeing fewer cars.
And as reported in the news, events at Amazon and Microsoft have been turned into online meetings.
We've noted that some religious services have either been postponed or they're being done in a different way.
I see that people are shaking hands less, doing the elbow bump.
The things we're asking people to do are definitely different, but they're doable.
You know, we as public health officials weigh the potential benefits for the community along with the significant impacts.
And these recommendations on our community and the impacts are weighed with our elected officials.
In consultation with CDC, we developed these recommendations best on the rising number of cases we have in our community and the importance of taking these actions now to further reduce transmission.
I want to reemphasize again the importance for all of us to do our part during this outbreak.
And now I'd like to introduce Dr. Kathy Lothi, our state health officer.
Well, good afternoon, everyone.
I'm going to just quickly give you a brief update on the statewide COVID-19 situation.
And then I'm going to also give you a brief update on testing capacity here in our state.
So as of midnight last night, there had been a total of 39 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in our state.
This includes 31 King County residents and eight Snohomish County residents.
That total number of 39 individuals also includes 10 deaths.
Nine of the individuals who have died are King County residents and one is a Snohomish County resident.
Now I'm going to turn to talk to give you a brief update about testing capacity.
We know that, first of all, we know that there is a huge demand out there for testing.
There are lots of people in our state who are sick and they want to know whether they have COVID-19 and they want to get tested.
And I want to tell you that we are doing everything possible to quickly expand testing capacity here in our state.
So there are a few things that have happened over the last 24 hours.
First of all, many of you may have heard that the federal government relaxed the criteria for who can be tested with the CDC COVID-19 assay.
And this was great news.
And basically now anyone who has symptoms that may be consistent with COVID-19 infection can be tested.
We are working really hard in Washington to increase the testing capacity.
As I have told you before, the Public Health Laboratory in Shoreline has the capacity now to test about 100 people per day or 200 specimens.
Each individual generally submits two specimens.
And we are ramping up this capacity.
We have purchased new equipment.
We have two new pieces of equipment that should be delivered today or tomorrow.
And we've quadrupled our laboratory staff that are doing testing.
In addition, it's been a very high priority for us to work with our commercial lab partners to bring additional testing capacity to Washington.
We continue to work with the University of Washington Virology Lab and expect them to be ramping up their tests in the upcoming days.
In addition, our state public health laboratory director called almost all of the large commercial labs in our state yesterday and encouraged them all to start using a COVID-19 testing assay so we can have additional testing capacity.
And there's a lot of work that's also happening on the national level with a lot of our very large national laboratories to encourage them to also begin testing for COVID-19.
So, currently we still do have a temporary capacity issue with testing for COVID-19 here in our state, but we do not expect this to last long.
I really feel like throughout, you know, the next few days we are going to see, you know, considerable increases in the number of patients that we can test here.
And I just want to reiterate what some of the previous speakers said.
For individuals who have mild illness, you don't need to be tested.
So this is important to remember.
We're posting some new guidance on our Department of Health website, which is two pages of information around what individuals should do if they have symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
And these are a lot of the same messages that we have been repeating over and over in the news conferences.
They need to stay home from work.
They need to keep a distance from other people in the household so they don't infect other people in their households.
And they, you know, they need to rest and take care of themselves.
So with that, I will turn it back to James.
So now I'd like to open up for questions.