Staying Home

This was my view from the passenger seat of Phil's car of the three lane/one way major thoroughfare in downtown Bellingham at 2:45 p.m. today. I've never seen it look so empty in the 18 years we've lived here. 

The WECU (Whatcom Educational Credit Union) sign sums up the present situation: We Are In This Together. 

Phil and I were heading to the Community Food Co-op to pick up our first Co-op Curbside order. I did our shopping online, and with the exception of two pounds of black beans that Phil wanted, we were able to get everything on our list and pay for our order without setting foot in the store. We just showed up at the designated parking spots, texted the relevant phone number, and a staff member appeared with two large bags of groceries for us. He was wearing a face mask and a new pair of gloves, donned for each curbside delivery. We'll be doing this again!

Our state's excellent governor, Jay Inslee, has extended the stay-at-home order for most of Washington's more than 7 million residents and the closure of non-essential businesses through May 4. All schools will remain closed through the end of the academic year (late June). Given the signs that the epidemic is beginning to be under control in our state, Governor Inslee is returning 400 of the 500 ventilators recently received from the federal government to the national stockpile for use in New York and other harder hit areas.

As of April 5, there have been more than 8,384 confirmed COVID-19 cases in our state and 382 deaths. To date in the United States, there have been 330,891 cases and 8,910 deaths.

[COVID-19 statistics for Whatcom County today: 228 confirmed cases and 19 deaths. One week ago, Whatcom County had 120 confirmed cases and 7 deaths; two weeks ago, 48 confirmed cases and 2 deaths.]

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