Coronavirus daily news update, April 6: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the nation

A top White House adviser starkly warned Trump administration officials in late January that the coronavirus crisis could cost the United States trillions of dollars and put millions of Americans at risk of illness or death.

The warning, written in a memo by Peter Navarro, President Donald Trump’s trade adviser, is the highest-level alert known to have circulated inside the West Wing as the administration was taking its first substantive steps to confront a crisis that had already consumed China’s leaders and would go on to upend life in Europe and the United States.

Dated Jan. 29, it came during a period when Trump was playing down the risks to the United States, and he would later go on to say that no one could have predicted such a devastating outcome.

Navarro said in the memo that the administration faced a choice about how aggressive to be in containing an outbreak, saying the human and economic costs would be relatively low if it turned out to be a problem along the lines of a seasonal flu.

But he went on to emphasize that the “risk of a worst-case pandemic scenario should not be overlooked” given the information coming from China.

A deadly pandemic seemingly did little to slow down Western Washington’s real estate markets in March, according to data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Before the coronavirus outbreak gathered force, home sales were gearing up to enter frenzy territory. Last month saw home price increases and sales activity reminiscent of early 2018’s homebuying inferno.

But the March data doesn’t tell the whole story.

Many of the sales finalized in March were likely signed the previous month, before precautions to slow the spread of the pandemic resulted in a generalized business shutdown. And a drill-down into the data shows a rift between the first three weeks of the month, before Gov. Jay Inslee signed a statewide stay-at-home order, and the last week, after brokers were temporarily prevented from conducting business outside their home, and many clients began restricting their travel.

Read the full story here.

For 10 patients severely ill with the new coronavirus, a single dose of antibodies drawn from the blood of people who had recovered from COVID-19 appeared to save lives, shorten the duration of symptoms, improve oxygen levels and speed up viral clearance, newly published research reports.

The preliminary findings emerged from a “pilot study” published Monday in the journal PNAS, the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. Conducted at three hospitals in China, it promised only to suggest the benefits of harvesting immune antibodies from recovered people (also called convalescent plasma) and administering it to people battling a severe case of COVID-19.

But its findings offer hope that a therapy with a long history and a simple premise could be a powerful treatment for COVID-19 patients fighting for breath.

Six more Seattle Fire Department (SFD) employees have tested positive for COVID-19 since last week, the agency confirmed Monday.

Mayor Jenny Durkan's office said last week that 10 Seattle firefighters had tested positive for the virus. All 10 were isolating and in stable condition, the office said. The fire department said Monday that a total of 16 employees have now been infected.

SFD also confirmed 58 staff members have tested negative, according to a statement on its website. One of its employees who tested positive has since recovered.

Twenty-nine SFD staffers were still in quarantine or isolation as of Monday evening, and 59 completed their 14-day quarantine and have returned to work.

Seattle police, which have confirmed six positive COVID-19 cases, reported 50 of their employees are currently either in quarantine or isolation. The department added in a post that 194 have returned to work based on the county's public-health guidelines.

After a “massive infusion of new data,” modelers at the University of Washington are painting a much more optimistic picture of the novel coronavirus epidemic in the state, revising sharply downward their estimate of how many people are likely to die and suggesting Washington may have already passed the peak of hospitalizations.

The UW’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) says the state can expect roughly 632 deaths, compared to an estimate 10 days ago of more than 1,400 fatal cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

But the improved outlook is contingent on maintaining strict social-distancing measures, including closure of schools and nonessential businesses, at least through the end of May, Murray said Monday in a press briefing via Zoom.

“If you ease up prematurely … the potential for rebound is enormous.”

Read the full story here.

Washington's number of positive COVID-19 cases has climbed to 8,384 statewide, including 372 deaths, according to numbers released Monday by the state Department of Health.

The state's newly released numbers include an additional 400 cases and 34 fatalities.

The bulk of the cases remain in King County, which has confirmed 3,295 cases and 220 deaths, according to the state. An additional 36 cases and eight deaths were reported in Snohomish County, which now has 1,522 infections and 55 fatalities. Benton, Island, Pierce, Spokane and Whatcom counties also reported new deaths.

Kitsap County health officials also confirmed Monday the county's first COVID-19 death, though it wasn't recorded in the state's update, which is accurate as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

The Department of Health did not provide the most updated count of negative test results Monday.

After months of talk, planning and speculation, the Seattle City Council has decided to consider a big-business tax again, this time while also grappling with the cononavirus crisis.

The council voted unanimously Monday to review legislation proposed by Councilmembers Kshama Sawant and Tammy Morales that would impose a 1.3% payroll tax on most companies with more than $7 million in annual payroll, excluding grocery businesses and some other entities.

Sawant and Morales have said their tax could raise as much as $500 million a year. They’ve called for Seattle to spend $200 million this year on coronavirus relief payments to many vulnerable families and for the tax subsequently to pay for rent-controlled housing and Green New Deal programs.

Read the full story here.

OLYMPIA — Favorable changes in coronavirus projections for Washington factored into the state’s decision to send 400 ventilators away to be used elsewhere, Gov. Jay Inslee said Monday.

Those projections — along with ventilators purchased by the state now en route — mean Washington is expected to have enough of the gear to meet state needs during the outbreak, Inslee said in a news conference.

The federal government shipped Washington 500 ventilators in response to the state’s original request for 1,000. The governor announced Sunday he would send them back to the stockpile, to help out harder-hit states such as New York.

Inslee said he appreciated the federal government’s shipment of the gear, but Washington’s request came when the state was assuming a more dire situation.

Read the full story here.

REI said it would keep its 162 retail locations shuttered and furlough many of its roughly 14,000 employees without pay for 90 days as the coronavirus pandemic continues to paralyze much of the bricks-and-mortar retail sector.

CEO Eric Artz, who announced the decision in a blog post Monday, said he and the Kent-based company’s board would forgo their own compensation for six months; senior executives will take a 20% pay cut and forgo any 2020 bonuses.

Furloughed employees will continue to receive health benefits during the 90-day period, the company said.

Read the full story here.

In the first major coronavirus disruption for the largest transit expansion in the country, Sound Transit halted work at dozens of construction sites Monday.

The stopped work is “almost all construction” underway as Sound Transit expands light rail to the Eastside, north to Lynnwood and south to Federal Way, the agency said.

But several construction sites will remain active, raising questions about social distancing and other precautions.

Tasks that Sound Transit labels critical will continue, like work on the Interstate 90 floating bridge to extend light rail to the Eastside, which Sound Transit says can only be completed from April through October because of state safety concerns related to wind and waves.

Read the full story here.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has waited as long it could to avoid canceling the spring state championships.

Though Monday’s announcement by Gov. Jay Inslee that schools will remain closed the rest of the academic year because of the coronavirus pandemic would seem to be the final domino to fall on that matter, the WIAA isn’t ready to call it quits yet.

The WIAA said Monday it is still waiting for clarification before proceeding.

Read the full story here.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the live music industry, concert cancellations continue falling like dominos.

Seattle Theatre Group (STG) announced Monday afternoon that its fledgling THING festival will not happen this year. Instead, the laid-back music and arts festival plans to return to Fort Worden Historical State Park in Port Townsend Aug. 27-29, 2021.

Amid the uncertainty created by the novel coronavirus, STG had already delayed this year’s on-sale date and lineup announcement, although it was shaping up to be a good one.

Designed as a low-key alternative to larger music festivals, the upstart fest from STG and Sasquatch! founder Adam Zacks sold out its inaugural year in 2019.

The announcement follows last week’s news that Northwest Folklife Festival has been postponed.

Leticia Frutos never imagined she’d spend weeks avoiding her month-old granddaughter because of her manufacturing job in Bothell.

The Mill Creek resident and material assistant for Ventec Life Systems is one of more than 1,000 workers nationwide on the front lines of Ventec’s Project V venture with General Motors to make thousands of ventilators for the nation’s coronavirus fight.

Ventec, GM and the companies supplying parts for them say worker safety is a prime concern. It’s also a challenge, given the ramp-up in production means more workers on the production line, often for more hours per week, and at a hurried pace that could lead to mistakes safeguarding against COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Read the full story here.

Thomas Lopez, who ran a fleet of Tacos El Tajin food trucks around Seattle, has died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, his family announced Monday afternoon.

After suffering flu-like symptoms, Lopez, 44, was hospitalized last week and put on a ventilator, but his condition got worse and he died on Thursday, his son Isaac Lopez said.

Lopez made national headlines in February 2017 for hawking tacos out of his food truck on Interstate 5 after a semitruck rolled over and brought traffic to a standstill. After realizing he would not make it to South Lake Union for the Amazon lunch rush and seeing how drivers around him were losing their patience, Lopez got out and started selling steak and chicken tacos to commuters as if he were parked in a food-truck pod.

Lopez, a Pacific resident, is survived by his wife Antonia Zamorano and their five children.

Read the full story here.

BELLINGHAM – Escalating a global spat over workplace safety and the rights of health-care workers during the coronavirus crisis, a top official of PeaceHealth has now confirmed the company ousted emergency physician Ming Lin for allegedly inciting public fear by criticizing the hospital’s emergency precautions.

In a lengthy interview on a YouTube video blog popular with medical professionals, Richard DeCarlo, chief operating officer of PeaceHealth, which  operates Bellingham’s St. Joseph Medical Center, likened Lin’s public warnings about workplace coronavirus concerns to “yelling fire in a crowded theater.” He said the hospital had no choice but to remove Lin from his post of 17 years.

Lin said Monday that he had seen the video and urged members of the public to view his Facebook posts and draw their own conclusions. Lin on March 16 accused PeaceHealth management of mishandling early COVID-19 testing; failing to conduct proper triage of patients and staff entering the hospital; and lagging in procedures for protective equipment and other emergency measures.

Read the full story here.

Boeing said Monday it will suspend its 787 production work in South Carolina “until further notice,” halting temporarily its last aircraft manufacturing center that was still operating.

The company closed its Seattle-area production facilities March 25, and announced Sunday it would keep them closed indefinitely as the coronavirus ravages airlines’ finances and the COVID-19 disease forces many factories to close.

Boeing said its suspension in North Charleston, S.C., affects its Airport Campus, Emergent Operations, Interiors Responsibility Center South Carolina and Propulsion South Carolina. Collectively these employ several thousand people in final assembly of the 787 and manufacturing some sections of the plane.

Read the full story here.

Employees at Valley Medical Center had a brush with COVID-19 even before the outbreak became publicly known in Western Washington after a man twice visited the Renton hospital in late February.

“He came into the Emergency Department, got discharged, a few days later came in very sick and was admitted” to the critical care unit, said Jamie Park, the hospital’s chief medical officer.

In a March 1 conference call, hospital administrators told some clinicians as many as 350 staffers could have been exposed during the man’s visits, according to two physicians who listened to the call.

Interviews with more than a dozen front-line Valley employees, including multiple physicians, and copies of emails and internal documents, underscore the concerns of many employees who said that COVID-19’s sudden arrival left staff and administrators scrambling. Directives changed regularly and sometimes confusion reigned, fueling employees’ fears for their safety.

And since the outbreak began, a rift in understanding, amplified by stress, risk and fear, has grown between some Valley employees and management over access to personal protective equipment (PPE), testing availability and criteria and infection-control measures.

Read the full story here.

Sound Transit will reduce Sounder South service by one round trip starting Wednesday because of reduced staffing availability, the agency said Monday.

A southbound train that departs from Seattle at 7:55 a.m. and a northbound train that departs from Lakewood at 10:16 a.m. will be removed from the schedule.

The reductions follow previous cuts to Sounder service because of concerns around the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Sounder ridership has declined by 92%, the agency said.

Sound Transit and King County Metro last month began reducing service, eliminated fares and asked riders to board through rear doors on buses to reduce contact between drivers and riders.

The next time more than a million kids in Washington state attend classes with their peers, it will be a new school year.

Washington schools will remain closed through the end of the academic year, Gov. Jay Inslee announced at a Monday news conference. Distance learning is expected to continue, and schools are expected to resume on a normal schedule this fall.

The announcement comes 20 days into a state-mandated closure of all public and private schools in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus. The closures were first supposed to last until at least April 24, about six weeks, but state schools chief Chris Reykdal has repeatedly stressed the shutdown could last longer.

“We simply cannot take the chance of reopening on site instruction in this calendar school year,” Inslee said. “We cannot risk losing the gains we have made after the peak of this pandemic presumably will have passed.”

Read the full story here.

A Kitsap County resident has died of COVID-19, the first person from the county to die from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, the Kitsap Public Health District said.

The person, who had tested positive for the virus, was an "older adult" with underlying health conditions, the Health District said.

"We were saddened to learn of the death of this community member and our hearts go out to their family and loved ones during this difficult time,” Dr. Susan Turner, the district's health officer said. “As a community, we must do everything we can to slow the spread of this illness and protect our neighbors who are most at risk. Please continue to stay home, wash your hands, and clean your living spaces. These simple steps can save lives.”

As of Monday, 111 Kitsap County residents had tested positive for the virus, out of more than 1,900 tested, the Health District said.

New York City officials are starting to lay chilling contingency plans if deaths from the coronavirus outbreak begin to overwhelm the capacity of morgues: temporarily burying the dead in one of the city’s public parks.

Mark Levine, chairman of the City Council health committee, said Monday that the office of the chief medical examiner was looking into creating temporary mass graves in a public park as it confronts the possibility that deaths from the coronavirus outbreak may soon exceed the capacity of city and hospital morgues.

Levine declined to say which park was under consideration, noting only that it would likely have to be a large one “out of the way of the public.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that no such plan had been put in place yet, although he acknowledged it was under consideration.

“If we need to do temporary burials to be able to tide us over to pass the crisis, and then work with each family on their appropriate arrangements, we have the ability to do that,” he said, adding, “We may well be dealing with temporary burials so we can deal with each family later.”

Read the full story here.

Major supermarket chains are beginning to report their first coronavirus-related employee deaths, leading to store closures and increasing anxiety among grocery workers as the pandemic intensifies across the country.

A Trader Joe’s worker in Scarsdale, New York, a greeter at a Giant store in Largo, Maryland, and two Walmart employees from the same Chicago-area store have died of COVID-19 in recent days, the companies confirmed Monday.

Though more than 40 states have ordered nonessential businesses to close and told residents to stay home to stem the spread of the virus, supermarkets are among the retailers that remain open.

Read the full story here.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved to the intensive care unit of a London hospital after his coronavirus symptoms worsened Monday, just a day after he was admitted for what were said to be routine tests

Johnson was admitted to St. Thomas’ Hospital late Sunday, 10 days after he was diagnosed with COVID-19.

“Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the Prime Minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital,” his office said in a statement.

Downing St. said Johnson was conscious and does not require ventilation at the moment, but was in the intensive care unit in case he needed it later.

Read the full story here.

Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo has canceled ZooTunes, its popular summer concert series, as well as summer day camps and other special events.

The zoo has been closed since early March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The zoo, in a social media post, said it decided to cancel the summer events to "put community safety first and focus our resources and staff on our animals."

It said it has lost millions of dollars in revenue since it closed, nearly a month ago.

Tim Eyman, the anti-tax advocate and Republican candidate for governor, is urging his supporters to come to Seattle City Hall Monday afternoon to protest a new tax proposal at the weekly City Council meeting.

But there will be no City Council meeting at Seattle City Hall.

The City Council has moved to all-remote meetings, by teleconference, to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Eyman, in a letter to supporters Monday morning, seemed unaware.

"Would we have beaten the British in the Revolutionary War if George Washington and his patriots had stayed home?" Eyman wrote. "At 1 p.m., at the east entrance to City Hall (dress warm), we will stay 6 feet apart and walk in together. We'll have signs for you. We'll have gloves and hand-sanitizer for you."

They will be waving signs to no one. While City Hall, and the Council chambers, will be unlocked, there will be no one there, except a staff member to operate a conference call line. City Council members will be participating from their homes.

Eyman is aware of his mistake. Seattle City Clerk Monica Martinez Simmons said she sent him a note letting him know Council chambers are closed (even if the room is not locked).

He did the same thing at an Edmonds City Council meeting two weeks ago, My Edmonds News reported, showing up to a meeting that was being held remotely.

Democratic State Rep. Gerry Pollet, an instructor at the University of Washington's School of Public Health, said it was "unconscionable" to encourage a gathering, like Eyman is doing.

"Eyman is demonstrating absolute ignorance of our state’s measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19," Pollet said. "It’s inexcusable for anyone seeking to be in a position of leadership to be unaware of those measures."

Council members Kshama Sawant and Tammy Morales have been proposing a tax on big businesses, like Amazon. To "attend" the council meeting, tune in to the Seattle Channel or call 206-684-8566.

Council President M. Lorena Gonzalez said Monday she hopes to develop a tool to accept public comments during remote council meetings, but that won't be operational for at least a couple weeks.

Deja Vu Showgirls, an adult entertainment club in downtown Seattle, appears to be closed — or “clothed” — until April 30, according to a banner announcement outside the venue.

The club, across the street from Pike Place Market, is generally open 2 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. daily.

The windows have been boarded up with plywood as many other shops downtown have emptied in response to Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-at-home order.

Alaska Air Group said Monday it is cutting capacity for April May further than announced just two weeks ago, as it “continues to experience demand that is 80% or more below normal levels.”

In a regulatory filing, the company said, “Today we are updating our capacity reduction plans to reflect 80% cuts in both April and May.”

The parent of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air added that for June and beyond, “given current trends and circumstances, it is our expectation that sizable cuts will be necessary for the coming months.”

Read the full story.

Washington State Superintendent Chris Reykdal says school buildings may stay closed through the end of the school year. Since schools closed in mid-March, Reykdal and Gov. Jay Inslee have said buildings would remain closed until at least April 24.

“I don’t know if we’re coming back to school this year and I want to be honest about that,” Reykdal said. “I think you should expect to be in this distance-learning model for quite a long time.”

Reykdal made the comments in a video posted to YouTube on Friday. Reykdal and staff at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction have on several occasions said they are preparing for the possibility of long-term closures.

School buildings are supposed to open April 27, but Reykdal said that reopening on that date will be a “little bit tough to do.” Inslee will soon make a decision about whether to extend closures, Reykdal said.

An incarcerated man at Monroe Correctional Complex-Minimum Security prison tested positive for COVID-19, making his the first confirmed case contracted within the state's correctional facilities, the state Department of Corrections (DOC) said.

Last month, an inmate who had been residing in a community medical center contracted COVID-19 at the medical facility where he remains, DOC said in a statement Monday morning.

DOC said the sick man at Monroe had symptoms and was taken on Sunday to a community hospital center for examination and rapid COVID-19 testing, which came back positive.

"Following established protocol, the man was transferred back to the Monroe Correctional Complex and placed in an isolation unit in a single person cell, where he will begin appropriate treatment for COVID-19," the e-mailed statement said.

On Monday afternoon, some family members of Monroe inmates picketed across the street from the facility, waving signs.

One protester, Twyla Kill, waved a sign urging Inslee and other officials to “Act Now and Save Lives!” Her husband, Terry Kill, is also in the minimum-security section of the prison, in a unit adjacent to the quarantined unit which had housed the infected person.

Read the full story here.

This young generation is experiencing its first collective trauma. Getting help to children is particularly important now, experts say: Routines are upended, the news is frightening, and boredom leaves room for troubles such as substance use. But remote mental health support isn't simple, even at the best of times. Here are resources for young people, along with nine local teens' perspectives on coping with the outbreak.

A party clearly couldn't happen for Earle Jones' 99th birthday. But his family, Issaquah police and local veterans found a way to come together — while staying apart — to honor the WWII vet. Enjoy the sweet photos.

This is part of a series called Stepping Up, highlighting moments of compassion, duty and community in uncertain times. Have a story we should tell? Send it to newstips@seattletimes.com with the subject "Stepping Up."

The growing national death toll is "without doubt" higher than we know, health officials say. Three out of four U.S. hospitals are dealing with COVID-19, plagued by problems that are feeding off each other. And the worst is likely yet to come, in what the U.S. surgeon general says will be "the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives."

Boeing factories will stay shut indefinitely. The company has extended its closures, and starting Wednesday, 30,000 workers won't get their regular salaries.

Amazon is donating 8,200 laptops to help Seattle students learn online while their schools are closed.

If resources run scarce, how should we prioritize who lives, and who must be left to die? A 2018 exercise turned out to be eerily prescient — and it's informing Washington's response today. This comes after 60 days at Ground Zero of the outbreak, in which the virus overwhelmed the state's efforts to contain it.

President Donald Trump is touting a malaria drug for COVID-19, but science hasn't concluded it's effective or safe. The message comes via Rudy Giuliani, who's casting himself as Trump's science adviser.

Coronavirus is adding to the suffering of foster children in Washington. A one-size-fits-all response is not the answer, columnist Naomi Ishisaka writes.

In New York, a tiger at the Bronx Zoo has tested positive for coronavirus. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been hospitalized. Here's an updating look at what else is happening around the world.

Here's help

Seattle-area restaurant workers financially hurt by the pandemic can apply for $500 grants from a new fund. Here are more resources for anyone in need of emergency relief.

Wear a mask if you're in public and might come within 6 feet of someone else, the state recommends. Here are researchers' guidelines on DIY masks.

Keep the facts straight: Let's debunk 10 myths about the coronavirus.

The airline won't refund your flight, despite the pandemic? Heed the advice from Travel Troubleshooter.