One Year Later: Seattle Continues to Have Lowest COVID-19 Cases of All
Major Cities
by Jenny Durkan on February 25, 2021
On February 28, 2020, Public Health – Seattle & King County identified
the first death of COVID-19.
This past year changed everything for all of us: Masks, testing,
isolation. Losing loved ones. Small business owners struggling every
day to survive. Workers facing lost wages and jobs, and unable to pay
their rent. Parents grappling with childcare, kids at home, and online
learning. And the pandemic disproportionately hit our Black,
Indigenous, and Latinx communities.
The pandemic is our lifetime’s challenge.
As difficult as this year has been for our region, our community took
early action to save lives and lead the nation in our response to the
pandemic.
Seattle continues to record the lowest cases of COVID-19 compared to
the top 30 other major cities with currently available data. In
addition, Seattle has some of the lowest hospitalizations and deaths
throughout the entire crisis, despite being the earliest epicenter.
Looking back at the year, we took many bold steps early without any
national playbook. We followed science and public health experts,
acted with speed and urgency, and aligned at every level of
government. As a community, we committed to taking care of one another
by masking up, limiting our gatherings, staying home, and getting
tested at our City’s free sites.
Here’s what we’ve done together: one year into the crisis, Seattle
continues to have lowest cumulative cases of the top 30 major cities
in the U.S. While we have faced three nationwide surges of the virus,
Seattle and King County cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are
dramatically lower than every other American city.
Unfortunately, the United States reached a staggering milestone this
past week, surpassing 500,000 known COVID-related deaths over the last
year. In Seattle, we have lost 354 individuals to COVID-19. We
remember each life lost not just as a daily number but as friends,
loved ones, mothers, children, grandparents, fathers, mentors,
brothers and sisters. Many of these individuals took their last breath
alone, and friends and family could not grieve together in person.
Our collective actions together in Seattle have been to save lives and
ensure more families did not have to suffer through the grief and
sorrow.
Hope is in the horizon with vaccinations. But we also have challenges
ahead with the new variants and a continued limited supply of
vaccines.
COVID-19 variants still spread in the same ways as the earlier
coronavirus strain: person-to-person and mostly through the air as
people cough, talk, sing, or breathe. That means the measures we know
are effective will protect us: Wear a mask. Limit social gatherings,
especially indoors. Wash your hands. Stay home when sick.
And get tested if you have symptoms or were exposed to someone who
tested positive.
Last year, we became a nationwide model for testing. Initially, first
responders tested other first responders then our Seattle Fire mobile
teams began testing residents at long term care facilities. And then
pioneered four free citywide testing sites. These sites have now done
650,000 tests including testing nearly 1 out of every 3 Seattle
residents.
Testing protects you and your family, and we see cities that are
testing more community members have some of the lowest cases.
We are writing the final chapters of this generational challenge. We
can get through this pandemic together. With our shared efforts on
vaccinations, we will beat this virus, reopen and recover.
Filed Under: Citywide Strategy, Essential City Services, Mayor Durkan
Blog, Public Health & Safety