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HomeMy WebLinkAboutReg 2021-03-01 Item 6A - COVID-19 - Coronavirus Weekly ReportCOUNCIL AGENDA SYNOPSIS Initials Meeting Date Prepared by Mayors review Council review 03/01/21 RB ITEM INFORMATION ITEM No. 6.A. 27 STAFF SPONSOR: RACHEL BIANCHI ORIGINAL AGENDA DATE: 03/01/21 AGENDA ITEM TITLE A weekly update on the City's planning and response to COVID-19 (Coronavirus) CATEGORY 11 Discussion 03/01121 ❑ Motion Mtg Date ❑ Resolution Mtg Date ❑ Ordinance Mtg Date ❑ Bid Award Mtg Date ❑ Public Hearing Mtg Date ❑ Other Mtg Date Mtg Date SPONSOR n Council 11 Mayor ❑ HR ❑ DCD ❑ Finance ❑ Fire ❑ TS ❑ P&R ❑ Police ❑ Pr SPONSOR'S The City is actively engaged in regional efforts to address the coronavirus (COVID-19). SUMMARY Staff are providing the Council with updated information regarding the City's response to COVID-19. REVIEWED BY ❑ Trans&Infrastructure ❑ CommunitySvs/Safety ❑ Finance Corn ❑ Planning/Economic Dev. ❑ LTAC ❑ Arts Comm. ❑ Parks Comm. ❑ Planning Comm. DATE: N/A COMMITTEE CHAIR: RECOMMENDATIONS: SPONSOR/ADMIN. COMMITTEE N/A N/A COST IMPACT / FUND SOURCE EXPENDITURE REQUIRED AMOUNT BUDGETED APPROPRIATION REQUIRED $ $ Fund Source: Comments: MTG. DATE RECORD OF COUNCIL ACTION MTG. DATE ATTACHMENTS 03/01/21 Coronavirus Report 27 28 Coronavirus Response Update March 1, 2021 * Denotes All New Content in the Section Essential Services and City Operations With the recent Governor's order, staff is being extra vigilant to ensure that worksites are being inhabited under the mandated 25% capacity and that City facilities are being utilized only be staff who must report to work in order to complete their jobs. * Financial Stability The Finance Director will provide the next COVID Financial Update to the Council on Monday, March 8, 2021. City Utilities Update The City has a moratorium on utility shut off and late payments during the pandemic. The City has seen an increase in past due utility accounts. In January of this year, the City had 213 past due water accounts with a total balance of $246,000. For comparison, in March of 2020, the City had 77 past due accounts totaling $86,000. City Human Services staff continue to work with utility customers and Finance and Human Services have a long-standing practice (pre - pandemic) of working together to assist qualified utility customers that are behind on their payments. Police Staffing and Calls for Service There have been no changes to Police staffing since the last report. Fire Staffing and Calls for Service There have been no changes to Fire staffing since the last report. * Human Services In February, HS staff was able to assist 14 families (43 individuals) with $14,439 in rental assistance. Nine households (32 individuals) were assisted with $9,900 in HB 1406 funds and five households (11 individuals) were assisted with $4,539 in human services general funds with contracted agencies. Staff spoke with eight new households this week seeking rental assistance. The range of back -owed rent was $1,250 - $7,500. Two households owed between $1,250-$2,400, two households owed $2,500, four households owed in excess of $3,500 each. Staff has seen an increase in requests from residents who had previously received assistance early in COVID. Employment hours have not picked back up enough for households to meet their financial obligations. * Business Recovery Business Re -Openings and Closings On January 5, Governor Inslee announced a new COVID-19 phased recovery plan called "Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery," which began on January 11. The State now follows a regional recovery approach and every region started in Phase 1. On January 28, the Governor announced modifications to the recovery plan. Under the 29 current plan, every two weeks a region's phase will be determined by the State's Department of Health (DOH) based on four metrics. Regions that fail to meet the second set of metrics will be moved back to Phase 1. To go from Phase 1 into Phase 2, a region must meet three of the four metrics: 1. A decreasing trend of at least 10% in the rate of new COVID-19 cases 2. A decreasing trend of at least 10% in the rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions 3. Hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds occupancy rate less than 90% (including non-COVID cases) 4. COVID-19 test positivity rate less than 10% Once in Phase 2, a region can remain in that phase if it meets three of the four metrics: 1. A decreasing or flat trend in the rate of new COVID-19 cases 2. A decreasing or flat trend in the rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions 3. Hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds occupancy rate less than 90% (including non-COVID cases) 4. COVID-19 test positivity rate less than 10% Tukwila is in the Puget Sound Region, which includes King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. We started in Phase 2 on February 1. The metrics for each region will be updated on a Risk Assessment Dashboard every Friday and regions will move into the new phase (forward or backward) the following Monday. The next update of data will be reported on 2/25/21 for a possible change in phase starting on 2/28/21. Puget Sound Region: Healthy Washington Roadmap to Recovery Phase Week start date or period: 2/1/2021 2/14/21 - 2/28/21 Phase: Phase 2 Phase 2 Trend in the rate of new COVID-19 cases +4% -41% Trend in the rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions -16% -14% Hospital ICU beds occupancy rate 84% 85% COVID-19 test positivity rate 9% 6% Notes: 1) Unshaded cells indicate we are meeting the goal to stay in Phase 2 2) Shaded cells indicate we are NOT meeting the goal to stay in Phase 2 3) Data is from the Roadmap to Recovery Reports available at: https://coronavirus.wa.gov/what-you-need-know/roadmap-recovery-metrics Now that we are in Phase 2 basically all types of activities are allowed; however, many are under significant restrictions. The following indoor activities are the permitted but limited to 25% of capacity and other restrictions such as distancing, masking, hygiene, and more: dining, retail, professional services, personal services, worship services, card rooms, museums, and fitness. Other types of indoor entertainment are also allowed with restrictions, such as: karaoke and recreational singing, darts, billiards, arcade games, trampoline facilities, indoor playgrounds, and non -workforce training classes. Business Assistance Work continues on Experience Tukwila. Websites for the Great Tukwila Carry -Out and SavingLocalKC are still available to the public but we are not promoting them and may reposition their use in the future. On February 24th staff emailed all Tukwila childcare businesses encouraging them to apply for the updated Federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds and with a link to a webinar specifically for childcare businesses. Staff also 30 emailed all Tukwila businesses with a reminder about recent changes to the PPP to make it easier for small, and minority owned, businesses to receive funding. The State has approved a $2.4 billion of federal funding for COVID assistance which includes $240 million for small business assistance grants. The grants will be administered by the State's Department of Commerce. We anticipate their application portal will open in late March and we will update our businesses when it does. Unemployment The unemployment claims data report will be included monthly. The report through January was included in the corona virus report for the Council meeting of February 22. On December 27, 2020 new federal funding through the CARES Act was signed into law. It provides expanded unemployment benefits through March 13, 2021. These include regular unemployment benefits and related extensions such as Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) and Extended Benefits (EB). The new law also extends the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which benefits people who do not qualify for regular unemployment such as self-employed people and independent contractors. It also created the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) which provides an extra $300 per week for eligible claimants who are receiving benefits from any unemployment program. The President has proposed a $1.9 trillion funding plan that would extend the unemployment benefits into the summer. Staff posted information on employment resources for community members that have been affected by job loss or reduced hours due to COVID on the City's website and started distributing it through our social service partners and social media accounts. * Meeting our Community's Basic Needs Tukwila Food Pantry • 2/18 - 545 • 2/20 - 676 • 2/23 - 469 Pantry numbers also include Door Dash deliveries. There are no new updates on the National Guard. Senior Meal Distribution: The seventh meal distribution of the year (2/15-2/19) included: 347 meals delivered 50 households 58 residents served In-person fitness classes at the Tukwila Community Center the week of February 15th had 99 attendees, and there were 70 fitness room users. The Park n' Play youth meal and recreation activity kit distribution for the week of February 15 was as follows, note distribution occurred on Thursday, February 18th only due to TSD winter break. Meals: 74 Breakfasts: 42 Snacks: 42 Activity Kits: 2 Masks: 55 Overall Attendance: 40 31 Public Safety Plan Construction Projects There have been no changes to the Public Safety Plan projects since the last report. Compliance with the Governor's Order There have been no changes to compliance issues since the last report. * Covid-19 Testing Sites Below are the three current nearest testing sites in/to Tukwila. For more information on free testing sites in King County, visit https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/covid-19/testing.aspx • Tukwila Pantry, testing is no longer being offered at the Tukwila Pantry • Highline College, Wednesdays 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. • Church by the Side of the Road, beginning Tuesday, October 6, 2020, 8:30 to 5:30 Monday through Saturday. • Abu Bakr Islamic Center expects to offer free testing once a month. The following are the number of individuals tested over the past week at the Church by the Side of the Road. This is a regional testing facility drawing individuals from across south King County. Positive rates for the prior weeks was hovering around 18.5%. All testing locations in the region are seeing a significant surge in the number of people requesting tests. King County has contracted with off-duty officers to provide traffic management along Tukwila International Boulevard and Military Road to mitigate traffic impacts in the neighborhood. • 2/23 — 156 individuals tested • 2/22 — 221 individuals tested • 2/21— closed • 2/20 — 127 individuals tested • 2/19 —167 individuals tested • 2/18 — 144 individuals tested • 2/17 — 203 individuals tested Additional information on the testing site at Church by the Side of the Road: Hours of operation M -Sat 9:30-5:30. Sundays Vaccine only and Appointment only for First Responders or other Level 1A personnel. On most days we accept everyone regardless of an appointment. Allowing everyone equal access to testing is very important to CHI Franciscan and King DOH. Some days if we get busy we will direct non -appointments into a parking lot and have them use our walk-up tent. On rare occasions if we become overwhelmed, we will go "Appointment Only." If this happens, we change the message on our Variable Message Boards and update this on the KC DOH website. As an alternative the Park and Walk Covid Testing Site at Highline College will be the next testing option for people needing a test. Firefighter Cathy Browning will be operating the Covid-19 Test Site beginning 1/6. Jeff Nichols will assist with training and his last day will be 1/7. When Cathy is not on site she will have Capt. Bill Austin fill-in and he is from VRFA. To sign up go to https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/covid-19/testing.aspx If you are unable to sign up, walk-up to the site and we can assist whoever needs help. 32 Overview We have 2 Variable Message Boards Located 1 block north and 1 block south of 148th. The purpose and value of the signs provided visible notice of when to turn. The testing site is difficult to find from T.I.B. The message boards also provides hours of operation and when the site is "Appt Only". At this time, we do not know how long the site will operate. At this time, the contract was approved until April. It is anticipated that the Testing Site will operate as a vaccine site once more vaccines become available. Other information is that CHI and King County DOH operate the testing site. It is important them to be good neighbors and provide a valuable service. In the beginning we did have traffic issues to resolve so we responded by implementing Full-time traffic control officers and being much more efficient at testing. * Public Health — Seattle & King County Covid-19 Outbreak Summary — Tukwila L.41 King County Public Health - Seattle & King County COVID-19 Outbreak Summary Update date 2/24/2021 11 AM Click on the icons to explore this dashboard: Demographics Geography Geography over time !� Select city to compare: All King County Count Summary of counts for All King County City: All King County New since yesterday Overall Percent Rate per 100,000 Compared to King residents County rate Past 14 days Count Percent Posit iNvs 811„52-5 Hospitalisations 5,090 Deaths due to 1.365 COVID-19 illness 146 4,4% of all tests 7 8 All test results 1.41.855 7,350 People tested 896,855 1.854 3,661,9 62% of all positive cases 228.6 Legend: Lower than overall King County rate 15% of all positive cases 613 82.731.7 40,284.6 S 2,009 5.2% 410 199 5.4% • 33 1.6% • 38,355 • 11,167 • Similar to overall King County rate . Higher than Overall King County rate 33