Summary:

Public Health – Seattle & King County will provide free testing to staff at the Maleng Regional Justice Center after six staff reported testing positive for COVID-19. Also, first responders and essential workers in King County can access free child care through a King County program to help parents working on the front lines of the COVID-19 response.

Story:

Public Health provides COVID-19 testing at Maleng Regional Justice Center

As a precaution, after six staff members at the Maleng Regional Justice Center have reported testing positive for COVID-19 in recent days, Public Health – Seattle & King County will offer voluntary testing for all staff members at the facility on Saturday and Sunday. Patients in custody are already being tested if symptomatic for COVID-19 and additional testing may be offered based on additional findings.

Public Health will deploy a team this weekend to the Maleng Regional Justice Center, and will offer limited testing next week to staff members there who are unable to participate this weekend.

The Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention (DAJD) is thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting the areas where each staff member worked, in addition to the enhanced cleaning they are conducting throughout all correctional facilities.

King County provides each staff member and person in custody at all its correctional facilities with cloth masks to help reduce the further spread of the virus in addition to providing staff with personal protective equipment. DAJD has taken other emergency actions to prevent the spread of the virus, including cancelling all public visits while making video visits available at no cost.

For more information, visit DAJD’s COVID-19 dashboard.

Free child care for first responders and essential workers

King County and the City of Seattle have coordinated free emergency child care for essential workers under Governor Inslee’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy guidelines. This service is available for any employee defined as an essential worker under Governor Inslee’s March 23 proclamation and includes medical professionals and support staff, corrections officers, transit workers, grocery store employees, and others.

If you are an essential worker who lives or works in King County outside the City of Seattle and you are interested in accessing the free emergency child care slots, please call Child Care Aware of Washington Family Center at 1-800-446-1114 and complete an intake with Family Center staff. After intake, a resources specialist will work to match you with an eligible child care provider that meets your family’s needs.

If you are an essential worker living or working in the City of Seattle, please visit this website to fill out an interest form.

For more information, including information in Chinese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese, visit the Department of Community and Human Services emergency child care webpage.

Supplemental budget request proposed to help King County respond, recover from COVID-19

To continue and expand COVID-19 response and recovery efforts, King County Executive Dow Constantine has proposed to the King County Council a $57 million emergency supplemental budget, to be funded by federal, state, and local revenue.

The supplemental funding would help the county continue leasing sites and providing isolation and quarantine options for patients in treatment and recovery. The funds will support small businesses to help business owners apply for aid and technical assistance.

This is the second supplemental budget submitted during the pandemic, with $49 million in funding approved in early March.

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 1-3 p.m.

Isolation and quarantine facilities update

Isolation and quarantine is a proven public health practice for reducing the spread of disease.

Sixty-one people are currently staying in King County isolation, quarantine and recovery facilities. 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.

Additional information 

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