Dear neighbors,
Thank you once again for your openness and willingness to be connected and supportive of each other, as we all struggle with our fear and uncertainty in this crisis. While I continue outreach efforts (want to help?) and prepare to survey you on our next steps, here's some recent news you may find helpful.
Covid-19 Analysis
The best comprehensive analysis I've seen is Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance, a great zero-to-60 explainer on the dynamics of the pandemic and what the future could look like.
Then if you're left wondering how the heck things got this bad, How the Coronavirus Became an American Catastrophe provides a well-written history of the last couple months, including quotes from our local UW heros.
For staying up-to-date daily, the Twitter accounts of Governor Inslee, virologist Trevor Bedford, and especially Seattle2019nCov have been very useful.
How bad will the worst be in our city? It's still a little too early to tell. The effect of recent school shutdowns and social distancing in Seattle remains to be seen - in Wuhan, official cases peaked 12 days after their lockdown. While NY has jumped ahead of WA in confirmed case count, local officials are still preparing plans for triage and rationing of care if-and-when the hospitals are overwhelmed. King County has also started creating field hospitals for isolation and quarantine, like in a Shoreline soccer field, in order to preserve more hospital space for intensive care.
North Crown Hill News
I have heard of no known-or-highly-suspect cases in our neighborhood during my canvassing thus far. We do have residents in highly vulnerable demographics and/or recently hospitalized. We also have folks working the front lines of essential jobs. And we have a fair number of tech and other folks who are able to take their office jobs home and/or are dealing with having kids home full-time.
Providence NW put out a "we'll give you kits to sew" in their Mask Challenge, but then retracted it today after a local business stepped up for them. Still, many hospitals are suffering from Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) shortages, so we'll stay tuned for similar opportunities. If you have any face masks (basic or N95), especially boxed, Seattle Children's and other hospitals are still seeking donations. Let me know, and we could coordinate a delivery.
The Meta
I've knocked on ~150 doors (not quite halfway there yet) and this newsletter is up to 72 subscribers, representing a 78% join rate from personal interactions so far. 25 of those 72 have also joined the NCH Slack chat - if you'd like to help others, volunteer for NCH, or be informed on a more-than-weekly basis, just follow the invite link in your inbox (or ask me to re-send it). Participate as much or as little as you'd like, paying attention to your mental health and stress level.
I'm hoping this whole project can help you, as it does me, breath easier knowing that you have a supportive community around you. If you have any feedback on this newsletter, any questions, or any reactions in general, please just hit "reply" and let me know.
Let's keep flattening (and reversing) that curve together!
James
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