cremevax👩🏻‍💻🏳️‍🌈​🇨🇦🇺🇦

Hi, these are the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots. A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government. Last week I highlighted really terrible SARS-CoV2 concentration numbers from the West Point (WSPT) sewage treatment plant's 7 day running average for 8/25, but said, maybe this is a crazy outlier, let's see next week's numbers. Well, they're in, and the updated numbers are quite, quite bad. These calculations of the 7DRA were done on 8/30 and 9/1, and they are by far the worst numbers we've seen in a year (which is as far back as the dataset goes). :( :( :( WSPT is one of three King County(-ish) sewersheds in this dataset. You can find overviews, individual sewershed results, and a breakdown of variants for the state wastewater surveillance program, along with other metrics like case counts and hospitalizations for Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses, at https://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/diseases-and-chronic-conditions/communicable-disease-surveillance-data/respiratory-illness-data-dashboard#WasteWater If you go to the page and click "learn more" in the statewide view tab, you can find out lots of details about how these data are calculated and how to interpret them. The dashboard gets updated every Wednesday (generally). The Department of Health is here on the fediweb, at @WADeptHealth@universeodon.com

This guy is in the US legally and with a valid work authorization. He is a lawyer for the state of Alaska and is now imprisoned in an ICE detention facility in Washington State. ICE won’t say why they they claim he is now deportable, but from this reporting it appears that a speeding ticket is the precipitating event. Yes, you read that right: a speeding ticket. https://alaskabeacon.com/briefs/ice-arrests-and-detains-alaska-state-attorney/

This person is a US citizen who could prove it, and the US federal government deprived her of her liberty for almost a month and tried to deport her anyway. Story by Joe Heim at the WaPo. #GiftLink https://wapo.st/3RYgr3s

The CDC finally moved ahead with #COVID #COVID19 vaccine ordering under its Vaccines for Children program. Half of US children get their vaccines through this program. #giftlinkhttps://wapo.st/4rvrgYp

The Brightwater sewage treatment plant (BWT) in Woodinville 7DRA numbers are about the same as they were last week. Its last 7DRA calculation was made on 9/13.

The last of the three King County sites is King County South (KCS) treatment plant, and its Sars-CoV-2 7DRA remain at high levels. The last 7DRA calculation was made on 9/13. Note: last week I said KCS was above the peak from last October. I was wrong about that; it's still slightly below the peak recorded on 10/23/2025.

@Nshrubs@mstdn.social I generally just block asshats like that right off the bat, but that reply to me was so fundamentally dishonest that I felt compelled to respond.

Recent discovery: the King County library runs makerspaces! I needed some stuff 3d printed, and these awesome librarians had a fleet of prusa printers ready for me to use. They supply the filament. You don’t even need a KC library card! https://kcls.org/makerspaces/ I 💕libraries, they are so badass.

A programming note: I will be mostly or entirely offline until mid-August. I expect that the next time I'll post these wastewater reports will be August 19th. Of course, you can always check the Washington State Department of Health's website yourself: https://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/diseases-and-chronic-conditions/communicable-disease-surveillance-data/respiratory-illness-data-dashboard#WasteWater See you all in a few weeks. Stay safe and have fun!

@hildabast@mastodon.online I’m so sorry. May Adam’s memory be a blessing.

This is an excellent Vox article on I-638, the Brian Heywood initiative that would force all #washingtonstate girls who want to play school sports to submit to physical genitalia exams, or get genetic or hormonal testing done, all at to_be_determined’s expense. #seattle #kingcounty https://www.vox.com/politics/501579/transgender-washington-midterms-ballot-measure-girls-sports-athlete

Ugh, the #covid #covid19 #wastewater dashboard for Washington State is out of commission again this week. :( I would love love love to see this get fixed, @WADeptHealth@universeodon.comhttps://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/diseases-and-chronic-conditions/communicable-disease-surveillance-data/respiratory-illness-data-dashboard#WasteWater

I had my first encounter with biometric exit on an international flight tonight. Because I am on team “how do you know you have rights if you don’t exercise them?” I requested an opt out. And the gate agent told me no one had done that before! They had to call a supervisor to find out what to do. BTW once they figured out the manual procedure it was fast. The agent then put me back at the head of the boarding line and ultimately the opt out wasn’t a big deal. #GiftLink https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/travel/airports-biometric-exit-program.html?unlocked_article_code=1.11A.0sK1.NLiIv5pkr36y&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Hi #washingtonstate voters, it's primary voting time. You have until August 4th to get your ballots back in. I filled out my ballot tonight, with particular attention to all the State Supreme Court races. I can't overstate how important these specific races are as we gear up for more court fights. If you want more background beyond the candidate statements, Fuse Washington has an excellent Progressive Voter's Guide here: https://www.progressivevotersguide.com/washington PS: Did you know you can get status alerts about your ballot's return and processing? King County's signup page is at kce.wiki/TrackMyBallot. I think many other counties have similar ballot tracking services.

Much more naked eye visible now. But it’s bedtime for realsies this time. I leave this #aurora in your capable hands.

Though the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater sampling has apparently resumed this week, there's a note up on the dashboard saying that the reporting won't start until July 22nd. That's about six weeks of no wastewater data on respiratory pathogens for the entire state, welp. I'm very disappointed. DoH's site: https://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/diseases-and-chronic-conditions/communicable-disease-surveillance-data/respiratory-illness-data-dashboard#WasteWater

This is so dishonest and disrespectful. #GiftLinkhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/us/politics/iran-troop-deaths.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0FA.eh1a.8hqDnGZOccpT&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Alas, the same notice is up this week, so Washington State #covid #COVID19 wastewater reporting is still offline. :( Any ideas on when it will get fixed, @WADeptHealth@universeodon.com ?

RE: https://universeodon.com/@WADeptHealth/116873752580919355 Some good news re #covid #covid19 #wastewater reporting in Washington State …

Space weather.com published a photo of last night’s aurora plus an ongoing electrical storm, and it is AMAZING. Photo by Roger Hill. https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=234609 Ps: I hope I am not being suckered by genAI here. Hard to check earlobes and fingers on this image. :)

The Brightwater sewage treatment plant (BWT) in Woodinville is also higher than we've been seeing. The last 7DRA calculation was made on 7/14.

RE: https://universeodon.com/@WADeptHealth/116925523679853520 It looks like it will be another week before we get #washingtonstate #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater reports again. 🙁

@WADeptHealth@universeodon.com thanks for the update. I look forward to seeing the wastewater reports again soon — I find them valuable, and I know others do too.

The Onion’s new Infowars parody site launched, and the ads are pretty great. https://theonion.info/

The Brightwater sewage treatment plant (BWT) in Woodinville went down a bit. The last 7DRA calculation was made on 7/21.

The last of the three King County sites is King County South (KCS) treatment plant, and its Sars-CoV-2 7DRA numbers went down a fair chunk. The last averaging calculation is from 7/21.

@mlanger@mastodon.world agreed, that’s the worst part by far.

US peeps: tomorrow, Monday, is the deadline for commenting on the OMB rule change that would give the Trump administration political review over allocated federal grant awards for any reason whatsoever. Here’s a primer on it: https://www.standupforscience.foundation/policy-and-advocacy/beyond-science-how-ombs-proposed-rule-on-federal-financial-assistance-threatens-essential-services-nationwide If submitting a comment to the federal register feels pointless, know that it is very much not. A big public response is a powerful weapon in the inevitable follow up litigation. It really is helpful! One thing: you can’t just copy pasta someone else’s text as your comment — repeat comments don’t count. But someone has built an application to help you share your thoughts in your words on the proposed rule here: https://ombcomment.netlify.app/

In the same vein, here is a Jason Horowitz analysis of Trump’s self enrichment in office that compares it to past examples like Berlusconi and Mobutu, leaving the reader to the conclude that the latter suffered from rookie numbers. #GiftLinkhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/world/europe/trump-world-leaders-corruption-wealth.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vFA.TgEE.VqhNWbVuB3j4&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Trump is on one long sacking spree of gullible Americans while also taking in direct payments from foreign governments. Anyway here’s a story by Eric Lifton and David Yaffe Bellany about how it’s going for $Trump memecoin buyers. #GiftLink https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/04/us/politics/trump-coin-crypto-investors-loss.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vFA.JFTU.TKByxBxor-yD&smid=nytcore-ios-share

@Beggarmidas@mastodon.social I try to avoid doomerism or fatalism, because it feels disempowering to me. When I feel helpless, I think of what the amazing people of Minneapolis did this winter, and take inspiration from them. We have the power.

@microblogc@neopaquita.es just to be clear, this is a completely different US citizen who could prove it and was detained anyway. She was taken from her sick child and put in shackles and imprisoned by ICE.

By the way, this is how hopeless things were looking about 15 minutes before totality. 😅 #eclipse #iceland #astrophotography

Something cool. #GiftLinkhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/world/australia/humpback-whale-birth-video-drone.html?unlocked_article_code=1.11A.qwNS.SMZ01Ho6ejx2&smid=nytcore-ios-share

We also paid our respects to the Red Creek fir, billed as the world’s largest Douglas fir. It’s just shy of 74 meters tall. It’s waaaay back off some logging roads outside Port Renfrew. Locals tell you to make sure you have a full tank and other supplies before you set out, and I say that’s good advice.

I did my first phone-banking shift of the mid terms this week. There are a lot of states with toss-up house and senate races that can use remote help. You can find out about volunteer opportunities here: https://www.mobilize.us/ If anyone is thinking, “I just don’t have the personality for phone or text banking,” I feel your pain. I will report that the dumb trick of telling yourself “let’s pretend I am an outgoing person who enjoys interacting with the general public over the phone” before you start a shift actually works.

@mlanger@mastodon.world I voted yesterday. I try to vote early for two reasons: 1) so I don’t forget and 2) so candidates and organizations stop contacting me :)

Ugh. Stay safe, PNW peeps. #giftlink https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/weather/oregon-wildfire-update-washington.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0VA._BS5.KdTyPA0H3o57&smid=url-share

@microblogc@neopaquita.es @solitha@mastodon.social is 100% correct about what’s going on here.

Confession: I don't understand how visibility works when replying via Bluesky bridging. I was replying to someone who was defending Brian Heywood's I-638 by saying that the initiative didn't even use the word "genital." (Link: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xaxnvhjkkryuiesxm4rhxkrf/post/3mvolfuc74s2b) I replied, but then my reply fell down some private mention wormhole. I intended unrestricted visibility on my reply, so here is try #2.

I super love the part in the new charter where ACIP meetings can be closed to the public if CDC leadership wants them to be.

Here’s a picture of a bald eagle from our trip to Vancouver Island last weekend. It turns out bird photography is pretty easy, provided said bird can stay still for a hot minute.

This is an interesting KUOW story about Washington State prepping for Trump attacks on elections. I didn’t know that King County has an online delivery mechanism for ballots, for example. I hope Clark County is making similar preparations, since I imagine that’s going to be the epicenter of attacks on voting in the state. https://www.kuow.org/2026-07-20/will-trumps-election-moves-affect-was-primary

@microblogc@neopaquita.es this woman was detained even though she had valid state identification that the arresting officer could easily verify with the state’s online database, but chose not to. So the problem here isn’t an inadequate identification system. https://thelensnola.org/2026/05/23/u-s-citizen-stopped-in-lafayette-shackled-and-detained-in-louisiana-ice-facility/