Booster shots boosted
The city of Seattle announced expanded hours at its South Lake Union vaccination clinic following increased demand for booster shots and the emergence of the Omicron variant.
The South Lake Union site — located in the Amazon Meeting Center — will now be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The new schedule will create capacity for approximately 5,500 doses per day, a 2,000-dose increase compared to its previous availability.
Mayor Jenny Durkan praised the efforts to get more Seattleites the booster shot, which she described as the best way to protect people from the virus, especially rolling into the holiday season.
“As we move into the holiday season and join with friends and family more frequently indoors, being vaccinated and getting tested after possible exposure becomes even more important,” Durkan said.
In a Dec. 2 speech, President Joe Biden reinforced that the plan to control the spread of the coronavirus in the winter months would rely on ensuring access to boosters, making at-home COVID-19 tests available and covered by insurance companies, connecting hard-hit hospitals with “surge teams” of medical personnel, strengthening the international response by vaccinating more people abroad and tightening travel rules for people coming to the United States.
City Hall Park
The King County Council is expected to take up legislation that would transfer the park adjacent to the King County Courthouse from the city of Seattle to King County control.
An agreement between Mayor Jenny Durkan and County Executive Dow Constantine in November would essentially trade City Hall Park for 13 other parcels currently owned by the county. It would also vacate roads around City Hall Park.
The land swap would allow the county to continue development of its downtown Civic Campus and the city to expand green space, according to the city and county.
However, the move came after widespread concern about public safety in the park which had become home to a large tent encampment during the pandemic. That encampment has since been cleared, and the park largely blocked off by fencing.
Rallies about courthouse safety were held after a pregnant woman was sexually assaulted in the courthouse bathroom.
Elected officials and judges have long raised issues about safety around the courthouse. At the start of 2020, officials closed access to the courthouse entrance on Third Avenue, requiring all entrants to come in through the Fourth Avenue doors or through a tunnel leading from the King County administration building, citing safety concerns.
Omicron appears in Sound
Officials announced on Dec. 4 that the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus was detected in Western Washington and are urging caution but not panic.
The Omicron variant was first identified by scientists in South Africa and has appeared in Europe and other countries. Little is known about the new variant, although there are suspicions that it may be more transmissible than previous iterations of the coronavirus.
Three cases were identified in Western Washington, one each in King, Pierce and Thurston counties.
In a post on Public Health Insider, Public Health – Seattle & King County Health Officer Jeff Duchin said that there are critical questions about Omicron that need answering, such as how easily it spreads, whether it causes more or less severe illness and how effective existing vaccines and treatments are against it.
Early observations suggest that the new variant may spread more quickly than the Delta variant, Duchin said. Delta was roughly twice as transmissible as the original coronavirus, and it’s currently the main variant in Washington state.
Omicron also has more mutations than previous forms of the virus, raising questions about the efficacy of vaccines that cannot yet be answered. The King County woman who caught the Omicron variant was fully vaccinated and had just received her booster, although, the post reads, likely after she was infected.
In a statement released Dec. 4, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan assured constituents that “residents and businesses know the steps we all can take to keep our community safe and healthy together.” She stressed vaccination, the new booster shots and testing as well as masking and handwashing.
Women in Black
Women in Black, a project of the Women’s Housing Equality and Enhancement League, will stand vigil for 17 unhoused or temporarily unsheltered people who died outside or by violence in November at the group’s Dec. 8 vigil.
The organization tallies 170 deaths so far in 2021, which it calls “a shattering record.” The Medical Examiner’s Office counts the number of deaths slightly differently. That office reports 185 people presumed to be homeless who died through November 2021.
According to Women in Black, three people listed died of hypothermia and four from gunshot wounds.
The Dec. 8 vigil comes ahead of the Longest Night, an annual commemoration of the people who have died outside or by violence held on the winter solstice in Westlake Park. Also known as “National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day,” people will gather at City Hall Plaza at 4:21 p.m., which is sunset on the shortest day of the year.
Attendees will then stand vigil for an hour by holding candles against the dark.
Ashley Archibald is a freelance journalist and former Real Change staff reporter. Her work can be found in the South Seattle Emerald, KNKX and the Urbanist.
Read more of the Dec. 8-14, 2021 issue.
"sound" - Google News
December 09, 2021 at 01:56AM
https://ift.tt/3dA5kGE
Booster shots boosted | City Hall Park | Omicron appears in Sound | Women in Black - Real Change News
"sound" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2MmdHZm
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment