We can see, hear, and taste it. The “end” of the pandemic. As we mark one year of lockdown in Seattle, here is a harsh, tough to watch reminder of why we wore the masks, why restaurants and stores were closed, and why we needed to turn life upside down to get through this. Please watch the New York Times report and share it.

500,000 deaths is a terrible milestone — the journey there includes a swath of unimaginable collateral damage, stress, and trauma that will be repairing for long after.

In King County, new hospitalizations have fallen to eight or less a day. But the math is relentless. Here, around 1.7% of those hospitalized will die. And in the last year, King County joined most of the rest of the world in becoming a deadlier place. Overall, the death rate here jumped 12%. Death during a pandemic is different, lonely, and terrible.

With growing evidence that vaccination efforts are working and the impatient reopening of the economy bursting forward, it is tempting to relax. But, as this video of death through the eyes of a nurse shows, while we can see the end, we cannot yet be done.

CHS’s full COVID-19 coverage is here. Start here if you want to see it from the beginning.

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.