Executive Constantine statement on updated COVID-19 restrictions

Positive cases in King county

King County Executive Dow Constantine delivered the following statement at Gov. Jay Inslee's press conference announcing new guidance on how to slow the spread of COVID-19, and new restrictions in place until December 14:

"Like everywhere in the state, our case counts are soaring, and that is also true nationally. The number of hospitalizations in King County last week increased by over 70 percent compared to the previous four weeks. 

"In fact, it was just earlier this week that I was reflecting that our hospitalizations had not increased dramatically, and then later that afternoon I was informed that we had seen a 30 percent increase in one day in hospital bed use. There are twice as many people in local hospitals with COVID-19 as there were just a month ago. 

"This is the most critical issue: We have to reverse this trend before our hospitals become overwhelmed."

More from the Executive here