SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Wednesday issued a statement urging residents to follow all public health guidance in response to Washington State's update of statewide reopening guidelines.
The updated guidelines keep Seattle and King County in Phase One in which indoor gatherings with people outside the household are prohibited and business activity is limited.
In the last two weeks, King County has 6,057 residents testing positive for COVID-19, including 1,478 new cases in Seattle and 84 hospitalizations of Seattle residents, the statement said.
"As the national death toll surpasses 350,000 individuals, we are seeing the devastating impacts of COVID-19 across the country with full ICUs, hospitals turning away ambulances, and freezer trucks acting as morgues," said Durkan.
"Seattle will continue to work in partnership with the state and county to protect the health and safety of our communities on the road to recovery and reopening and continue to provide relief programs like rental assistance and small business grants," she added.
Seattle has extended the moratoriums on nonprofit, residential, and small business evictions through March 31, 2021.
The city has administered over 540,000 COVID-19 tests across the Aurora, SoDo, Rainier Beach, and West Seattle testing locations. Also, through a partnership with Curative, the city has five COVID-19 testing kiosks throughout Seattle, with more opening soon, the statement said. Enditem