Now Available!  
Seattle Hospitality Worker Emergency Relief Fund

Last month, I was honored to work with Mayor Jenny Durkan and my colleagues to sponsor legislation to establish a relief package that included $2.17 million of direct cash assistance to Seattle’s hospitality industry workers at restaurants, bars and hotels.

Applications are open now through February 1, 2021 for the Seattle Hospitality Worker Emergency Relief Fund. Qualified hospitality workers may receive direct cash assistance up to $1,000 if they have experienced a reduction in income due to the pandemic. You can find the application and eligibility information here.

As always, these benefits are available regardless of the person’s immigration status. Because this is a disaster relief benefit it should not impact consideration as a “public charge”. Visit the FAQs for more information.

Please help us get the word out by sharing this economic relief opportunity via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. And, if you are able to, consider making a donation to the Seattle Hospitality Worker Emergency Relief Fund to support hospitality workers.

Governor Inslee's Plan to Safely Reopen our Economy

On January 5, 2021, Governor Inslee announced his new “Healthy Washington” plan that  provides a framework for re-opening our state for activities using public-health data.  

Under this new plan, 39 Washington State counties are grouped together into 8 regions for the purposes of establishing regional COVID-19 guidelines. For the Puget Sound Region, which includes King County, the Washington State Department of Health will evaluate public health metrics in two categories: community disease levels (trends in case rates, test positivity) and health system capacity (trends in COVID-19 hospital admission rates, ICU occupancy).  

In Roadmap to Recovery, the following metrics must be met for our Puget Sound Region to move from Phase 1 to Phase 2:  

• Decreasing trend in 14-day rate of new COVID-19 cases per 100K population;  

• Decreasing trend in 14-day rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100K population;  

• Average 7-day percent occupancy of ICU staffed beds less than 90%; and,  

• 7-day percent positivity of COVID-19 tests less than 10% 

Public health data is dynamic, which is why in order for a region to not regress to Phase 1, regions must continue to meet at least three of four of the following metrics:  

• Decreasing or flat trend in 14-day rate of new COVID-19 cases per 100K population;  

• Decreasing or flat trend in 14-day rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100K population;  

• Average 7-day percent occupancy of ICU staffed beds less than 90%; and,  

• 7-day percent positivity of COVID-19 tests less than 10% 

New data will be published every Friday on the Risk Assessment Dashboard and will inform Washington Department of Health decisions to move a region – forward or backward – the following Monday. All regions are currently in Phase 1.  The Seattle/King County Public Health COVID-19 dashboard can be found here with daily updates occurring between 3:00 and 5:00p.m. 

COVID-19 Testing Kiosks and Vaccinations

Testing Kiosks

Last month, the City of Seattle opened three additional COVID-19 walk-up testing kiosks at the following locations:   

• North Seattle – Lower Woodland Park 

• Seattle Center - 2nd Ave and Republican, near the Seattle Repertory Theatre 

• South Seattle - Old UW Laundry site, west of Mt. Baker Light Rail Station 

Kiosks are open from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. from Monday through Saturday. You can find the location or schedule a kiosk testing appointment for North Seattle and Seattle Center online. These kiosks add a daily testing capacity of more than 1,500 tests.  Since June of 2020, the City of Seattle has administered over 480,000 tests since at the Aurora, SoDo, Rainier Beach, and West Seattle locations. Huge thanks to all of our health partners, including the crews of the Seattle Fire Department, who have made these testing sites a huge and safe success. 

COVID-19 Vaccines

At long last, COVID-19 vaccines are finally here! The Washington State Department of Health Vaccination Plan has a plan for vaccine roll out which you can read here. The City of Seattle received approval this week to administer vaccines. Seattle Fire will be focusing their early efforts on vaccinating residents of adult family homes.  

While we wait for our turn to be vaccinated, you can check your COVID-19 vaccine eligibility. And don’t forget to sign up for Washington Notify, which will send you an alert if you’ve been potentially exposed to COVID-19.  

Washington State Legislative Session Begins

Our Washington State Legislature convened on Monday, January 11, 2021. I want to start by congratulating all the new members of the House and Senate. We have historic BIPOC representation in both chambers as well as in the Judiciary branch with the elevation of my old friend and mentor Justice Steven Gonzalez to Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court. I am confident these voices will bring perspectives to the table that will drive equitable policymaking for communities all across Washington State.  

This will be a critical legislative session for our state as policymakers continue to grapple with the statewide devastating impacts of the public health and economic crises brought on by COVID-19, while also working to advance critical police accountability and reform proposals to protect the civil rights and safety of our BIPOC communities. I am actively supporting several important bills by working with our state representatives to advocate for the passage of meaningful solutions to these critical issues.  

My top legislative priorities in Olympia this year include: 

• Legislation to reform the collective bargaining process for police officer guilds - giving local jurisdictions like Seattle the ability to hold individual officers accountable for misconduct, use of force violations and unjustified killings;  

• Bills creating progressive revenue sources to support equitable economic relief, basic needs programs, and recovery programs;  

• More resources to address mental health and drug counseling interventions and funding for shelter and permanent supportive housing to bring people inside and get them the help they need; 

• Expanding and increasing funding for early learning and childcare to attract and retain more providers for more families to get the care that they need, especially for families with children between the ages of zero to three-years-old; 

• Support expansion of paid family medical leave;  

• Inclusion of undocumented workers for state unemployment benefits;   

• Pro-density bills, especially legislation that means we can build more housing as a necessary pro-housing and climate resiliency strategy; and 

• Efforts to advance and strengthen clean, renewable energy as statewide energy sources, electrification code updates, and any effort to capture the true cost of carbon pollution and ensuring our climate and energy policies are centered on environmental justice. 

 The City of Seattle’s full state legislative agenda can be viewed here.