King County has released preliminary data that its officials say shows COVID-19 is “impacting all races and ethnicities” here but experts caution those early results aren’t likely to hold up. Meanwhile, critics say officials must do more to track demographic trends.
The county’s early report on the numbers shows local statistics on the outbreak closely mirror the region’s demographics:
Of the 274 people who have died after contracting COVID-19 in King County, 74% were White non-Hispanic, 15% Asian, 4% Black, 5% Hispanic or Latino, 1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 0% American Indian or Alaskan Native. (Data as of 4/10/20)
The county acknowledges its current dataset doesn’t tell the complete story. Continue reading →
It might seem like a well-thought-out contingency plan on the part of the federal government, if it weren’t for a mountain of evidence showing that there is no such thing.
This year, for the first time in history, the U.S. census has moved online, hopefully minimizing personal contact at a time when a once per decade government tally runs up against a once per century (let’s hope) viral pandemic.
For anyone who doesn’t remember from government classes, 2020 is a census year. The due date for this assignment? April 1st.
The U.S. constitution mandates that every 10 years, the government take a count of everyone who lives here. While there had been a bit of a dust up over a Trump administration plan to add in a question about respondent’s citizenship status, that question is not included.
If you haven’t yet, you’ll soon receive a mailer from the government with a 12-digit alphanumeric code on it. Go to my2020census.gov, click start and type in the code. You will then be asked a series of questions, and can choose one of 13 languages. Questions include how many people live in your household, their name, age, gender (only male or female options) and race (a lot of options, including the option for multi-racial people to check more than one box). There’s also a question about if you own your home (with or without a mortgage) or rent. The questions are based on your living arrangements as of April 1, so take that into account. Continue reading →
Each dot represents 10 Jewish households. The dots are placed randomly within each zip code (Image: Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle)
Seattle’s central neighborhoods have the densest population of Jewish households in the metropolitan area, and the numbers are growing.
According to a recent study (PDF), the number of Jews in greater Seattle has increased 70% since 2001, the last time a similar study was conducted. The Jewish population boom is outpacing Seattle’s overall growth. The city’s roughly 33,000 Jews now outnumber residents claiming Norwegian ancestry. The Seattle Times reported on the trends last week.
According to the report, much of the growth has come from Jewish individuals and families moving into the city — only 23% were born in the area. Seattle’s availability of skilled jobs, progressive culture, and well educated population appears to have been a main driver in the Jewish population boom. 89% of Jewish adults surveyed had a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate degree. Researchers estimated the total Jewish population in the greater Seattle area today to be around 63,400. Continue reading →
