HomeCorona UpdatesCoronavirus daily news updates, June 20: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world – The Seattle Times
Coronavirus daily news updates, June 20: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world – The Seattle Times
It’s Father’s Day, but in some long-term care facilities around the country, hugs and kisses are still discouraged or banned, and visits are limited or cut off entirely if someone tests positive for the coronavirus. Frustration has set in for families.
We’re updating this page with the latest news about the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the Seattle area, the U.S. and the world. Click here to see previous days’ live updates and all our other coronavirus coverage, and here to see how we track the daily spread across Washington and the world.
21 Seattle-area restaurants our critics are most excited to try post-pandemic
A former Canlis chef is opening in White Center, a favorite Vietnamese restaurant will launch an all-vegan menu, a popular bar plans a tiki extravaganza. … With 70%-plus of Seattle all vaxxed up (good for us!) and Washington restaurants set to reopen at full capacity by June 30 (yes!), Seattle Times restaurant critics Bethany Jean Clement and Tan Vinh cleared their brains of COVID-19 cobwebs and assembled this list of most-anticipated places.
Let them eat snacks: COVID aside, students still need to eat and drink in school
Editor’s note: This guest essay is part of Education Lab’s Student Voices program.Read more columns by local students at st.news/studentvoices2021.
After more than a year of virtual school, I returned to (hybrid) in-person learning at Sammamish High School in early April. Like many of my classmates, I had a successful first day back — except for the huge headache I came home with. The reason? Hunger and dehydration.
Working online from home, I’d grown accustomed to being able to run into the kitchen whenever I felt hungry, so going five hours between breakfast and lunch felt like an eternity. As rules and safety precautions filled my brain, my focus quickly dissolved into a pounding head and growling stomach.
Turns out many of my classmates feel the same way. In normal years, most secondary-school classrooms allow students to eat snacks during class, and many students do. However, with concerns regarding contaminated surfaces and the spread of respiratory droplets, the Bellevue School District, as well as many school districts throughout Washington state, chose to prohibit classroom snacking during the pandemic.
Israel struggles to restore vaccine swap deal after Palestinians reject doses for being too old
Israeli officials are working to revive talks to deliver vaccine doses to the Palestinian Authority after a deal last Friday was suddenly called off by P.A. officials who said that the vaccines were too close to their expiration date and do not meet their standards.
Some 5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are still without sufficient vaccine supplies as shipments from other sources continue to lag even while their neighbor, Israel, is mostly returning to pre-pandemic life.
The announcement and abrupt cancellation of the deal has given rise to conspiracy theories and further damaged the low standing of the Palestinian Authority among its people.
On Friday, Israeli officials celebrated the finalization of the three-way deal between the two governments and Pfizer, by which Israel would ship more than 1 million doses of its vaccine to the Palestinian Authority, in exchange for a similar number of doses to be delivered back to Israel later this year. Read the full story here.
More superintendents leaving after tough, pandemic year
Austin Beutner has been an investment banker, first deputy mayor of Los Angeles, and publisher and chief executive of the Los Angeles Times. But none of those jobs were tougher than the position he is soon leaving after the grueling covid-19 year: superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Beutner is one of a wave of school superintendents leaving their posts, far more than in a typical year, a result of the extraordinary challenges of keeping kids learning after schools closed in spring 2020 and serving as crisis managers for months on end while dealing with pandemic pressures on their own families.
The departures are from the top spots in large cities – including the largest three, New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago – but also in many midsize and smaller districts in suburban and rural areas, according to AASA, the School Superintendents Association, which keeps track of its 9,000 members. Seattle is among the cities getting new leadership as its district emerges from the pandemic.
“We have worked 15 hours a day, seven days a week – truly 15 hours a day, truly seven days a week,” said Beutner, who declined an offer by the district’s school board to extend his three-year tenure. “It has been exhausting, and my guess is, from talking to other superintendents, this year has been like none other.”
Tokyo: Olympics like no other with Olympic Village to match
The pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics will be like no other when they open on July 23. And they’ll have an idiosyncratic Olympic Village to match.
Start with the aptly named “Fever Clinic,” a prefabricated complex of isolation rooms inside the sprawling village on Tokyo Bay. This is where PCR tests will be given to athletes or staff suspected of carrying COVID-19.
It is a spot nobody will want to visit, unlike the massive dining hall, or the fitness center, or a special “casual dining area” that will serve famous Japanese dishes from okonomiyaki (a savory pancake) to rice balls to teppanyaki (dishes cooked on an iron grill).
Athletes will be tested daily in the village, after being tested at least twice before leaving home, and again upon arrival. Any test anomaly in the village could land athletes or staff in the hands of Dr. Tetsuya Miyamoto, senior director of the Medical Services Department for the organizing committee.
Resolution opposed to ‘vaccine segregation’ voted down by Kelso Council
The Kelso City Council voted against a resolution that would have a declared the city opposed to any mask requirements or limits based on vaccination status.
Councilmembers voted 3-2 to not enact the resolution during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Lisa Alexander, who introduced the resolution to the City Council, and Keenan Harvey voted in favor.
The proposed resolution would have kept the city from promoting mask requirements or proof of COVID-19 vaccination at city-sponsored events. It would have declared the city council opposed to any government-mandated “vaccine segregation.” The resolution also directed the city to contact the office of Gov. Jay Inslee and demand a full lifting of coronavirus restrictions by the end of June.
Pandemic brought out something positive for some people — resilience
While the pandemic has been a time marked by stress, grief and hardship for many Americans, some have also experienced a surprising outcome: a sense of resilience.
Out of the challenges of navigating a disorienting new world came a shift in perspective and priorities. People made decisions and formed healthy habits that could shape their lives for the better.
While a pandemic might seem like an unusual catalyst for inspiring positive life changes, experts say it’s typical to see a range of responses to a collective trauma.
In some individuals, the toll of the past year led to worsening mental health. But research indicates others may emerge more resilient. Read the full story here.
Have Gates Foundation efforts to vaccinate the world against COVID-19 helped — or hindered?
Students wait to receive Covishield, Serum Institute of India’s version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, June 11 in Hyderabad. The country’s huge surge in cases disrupted vaccine shipments to low-income countries in Africa and elsewhere. (Mahesh Kumar A. / The Associated Press)
As a dangerous new virus began spreading around the globe in early 2020, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation turned to a tried-and-true playbook.
It’s an approach that has worked well for the Seattle philanthropic giant for more than two decades, ever since it set out to boost childhood vaccinations in the developing world. Back then, the foundation helped bankroll a new, global entity — Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance — to broker deals with pharmaceutical companies, pool donations from wealthy countries and provide low-cost shots for the world’s poorest kids.
Faced with the first pandemic of the modern era, the foundation and its partners relied on the same blueprint to create an entity called COVAX that would operate in a similar way to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines in low- and middle-income countries.
But as of mid-June, COVAX has shipped fewer than 90 million doses to countries with a collective population of about 6 billion. It’s unlikely the initiative will meet even its original, modest goal of providing 2 billion doses by the end of this year — enough to fully vaccinate just 20% of those people.
Now, the Gates Foundation itself is coming in for an unprecedented level of criticism from activists who say the powerful philanthropy helped create the crisis. Read the full story here.
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