Quarantine motels spark fear in virus-struck Washington state

SEATTLE - A project to set up "quarantine motels" in the US coronavirus epicenter of Washington state has infuriated local residents who fear they will be exposed to a high risk of infection.

More than half of all US novel coronavirus deaths so far have struck in King County, which encompasses the city of Seattle. The region has suffered 43 fatalities.

With the entire northwestern state going into lockdown Monday -- bars, restaurants, gyms and museums are all closed -- officials have moved to fill four properties bought to house those unable to self-quarantine.

These include the homeless, people with mental health issues or those living in multi-generational households worried about exposing elderly relatives.

The scheme is intended to relieve hospitals as resources grow increasingly stretched by the pandemic.

But Maddy Clemons, who works at coffee shop Bri's Beans opposite one motel in Kent, said she fears bringing the virus home to her two-year-old if customers pass it on to her.

"It worries me that (residents) could just leave the motel and walk up here to grab a coffee," she said, adding that she only learned about the quarantine site from a television crew who came to report on the plan.

"I'm looking for new employment, I'm so worried about it."

Soon after the motel opened, a homeless person who had not yet learned their coronavirus test result left the property, stole goods from a 7-11 convenience store and boarded a public bus.

Kent mayor Dana Ralph has called for heightened security including physical fencing, writing on Facebook: "My fears for this facility have come true. The things I predicted would happen now have happened."

On Monday, Governor Jay Inslee moved to reassure residents.

"We can all understand why people would be anxious if one person walked away -- who turned out to be not positive by the way -- into our neighborhoods," he said.

"Those aren't the people you need to be afraid of or concerned about. You need to be concerned about your best friend or your family."

But two employees in a Denny's restaurant, also across the street from the motel, expressed fears.

"If I get sick, I'm suing," said one employee, asking not to be identified.

'UNDERHANDED' 

Currently, quarantine at the sites is voluntary. Residents will be provided with food and monitored by health professionals. 

Though it has space for 85 people, the Kent motel was empty Monday. Officials warn the virus may not peak for eight weeks.

King County communications director Alex Fryer said the property was bought for several reasons: each room has separate ventilation, doors all open to the outside and it was for sale as the crisis began to escalate.

But the emergency purchase was immediately controversial. City mayor Ralph took King County to court but lost.

Treasure Nazario, 27, who often shops at the 7-11 opposite the motel, called it "suspicious."

"I have four kids. I have a baby. It's scary. It seems underhanded," Nazario said.

Inslee has called for people to show "level-headed and community-minded" responses to quarantine sites in their areas.

But some residents of White Center -- home to large Asian and Hispanic populations, far from the main outbreak hub -- say the decision for their community to host another quarantine site was racist.

"Why would you put it inside our neighborhood among so many schools and homes?" asked health worker Isabelle Kihano, in Spanish, at a county meeting.

King County commissioner Jeanne Kohl-Welles said there "was no time" for a detailed review.

"Speed is paramount," she added. "We're in an unprecedented crisis."

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Agence France-Presse

Three dead in Washington state mall, gunman on the run

WASHINGTON - A manhunt was underway after a gunman killed at least three people and wounded two others late Friday during a shooting at a mall in the US state of Washington.

Police spokesman Sergeant Mark Francis said there was at least one suspect in the shooting at Cascade Mall in Burlington, describing him as a "Hispanic male wearing gray."

Officials initially released a still from video surveillance of the younger-looking suspect holding what appears to be a rifle, before releasing a closely cropped image of the same still showing only the suspect's head and torso.

Francis told reporters that three women were killed and two men were wounded, with one suffering life-threatening injuries. He had earlier estimate the toll at four dead.

Police received calls around 6:58 p.m. (0058 GMT) that shots were fired at the mall, located about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Seattle in the US Pacific Northwest state, Trooper Rick Johnson told CNN.

"Right now we can't assume anything. So they're still interviewing witnesses and trying to get a good idea of exactly what action to take next. We're just asking people to, obviously, stay away from the area. Stay inside and obviously report anything suspicious that they may see."

The suspect was last seen walking toward the Interstate 5 highway from the mall before police arrived, Francis said on Twitter, adding: "We're actively searching for suspect, tracking leads, etc."

The mall was evacuated, police swarmed the area and medics rushed to the scene to help the wounded after the mall was initially placed on lockdown and cleared.

Multiple law enforcement agencies and sniffer dogs were searching for the suspect.

Francis said survivors were being transported by bus to a nearby church.

Witnesses told KOMO News that a shooter walked into Macy's and opened fire. Nearby businesses were evacuated, the television station added.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Missing from US mudslide drops to 30, one week on

LOS ANGELES - The number of people still missing after a monster US landslide dropped dramatically to 30 Saturday, as rescuers held a moment's silence exactly one week after tragedy struck.

The number killed is believed to be at least 27 from the wall of mud and debris which crashed down onto the town of Oso in the state of Washington, although the official toll remains at 18.

The drop in missing from 90 to 30 offered a tiny cause for relief as an army of rescuers spent another day picking and wading through the square mile (2.5 square kilometer) blanket of mud.

Heavy rain made the efforts to find bodies even more painstakingly slow.

"The rain saturated a lot of the soil in the debris area .. which slowed down the searching," Jason Biermann of the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management told reporters in a daily briefing.

In a grisly turn, he said the task of counting fatalities was complicated because of the state of human remains left by a landslide that has been described by officials as a giant blender.

"Often they are making partial recoveries," Biermann said, apparently referring to rescuers not finding whole bodies.

As well as 18 confirmed deaths, Biermann said one other body has been located but not formally identified. At least eight other bodies are believed to have been located earlier in the week, making the expected death toll from the tragedy at least 27.

Officials are only including victims in the confirmed toll if they have been recovered and formally identified by the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office.

A total of 49 dwellings in the rural town were hit by the square-mile (2.5-square-kilometer) rush of mud, rocks and trees, which also destroyed part of a highway about 60 miles (95 kilometers) northeast of Seattle.

More than 200 rescue workers have been working in tough conditions for seven days. A few survivors were found immediately after the mudslide, but none since the day of the catastrophe.

Earlier Saturday, rescue workers and people across the northwestern US state observed a moment's silence at 10:37 am (1737 GMT), exactly a week after the landslide struck.

"I know that every Washingtonian holds in their heart the people of the Stillaguamish Valley and we all wish we could ease their pain," said Washington Governor Jay Inslee.

Some heart-breaking stories have emerged of individuals who died in the landslide.

One of the most moving is that of Natasha Huestis, whose four-month old baby daughter Sanoah Violet are both among the confirmed dead.

Huestis had left her daughter with the infant's grandmother, who was looking after the baby at her home -- which was directly in the path of the massive landslide.

"Sanoah's name is Hawaiian. My mom, she came up with Sanoah's middle name, Violet," she said. "Sanoah Violet. Her name means mist in the mountains. And you know, she's in the mountains right now."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Weary vigil as community grieves growing U.S. mudslide toll

DARRINGTON, Washington -- Family and friends of 90 people still missing after a wall of mud flattened the outskirts of a rural Washington state town increasingly feared for the worst on Saturday as the governor called for a statewide moment of silence a week after the disaster.

"The number is so big and it's so negative. It's hard to grasp," said 66-year-old Bob Michajla, a volunteer who has been helping search part of the square-mile (2.6 square-km) debris field. "These are all friends and neighbors and family. Everybody knows everybody in this valley."

The number of people presumed dead grew to 27 on Friday as officials said one more body had been located in a field of muck and debris left when a rain-soaked hillside collapsed without warning last Saturday and engulfed dozens of homes on the outskirts of Oso, northeast ofSeattle.

But the official death toll lagged at 17, based on bodies found, extricated and identified, a process complicated by the fact that some remains have not been found intact.

Authorities have located 10 more bodies in recent days but those are not yet included in the formal toll, and officials have repeatedly warned the number could soon rise substantially.

An estimated 180 people lived in the path of the landslide, and authorities said on Friday they were bracing for the worst for those still listed as missing in one of the strongest official acknowledgments that many of those lives may be lost.

"We always want to hold out hope but I think we have to at some point expect the worst,"Snohomish County Executive Director Gary Haakenson told a Friday evening news conference.

"The crews are finding bodies in the field. It's a very slow process. It was miserable to begin with. As you all know, it's rained heavily the last few days. It's made the quicksand even worse," he said.

Governor Jay Inslee has called for a moment of silence on Saturday at 10:37 a.m. (1737 GMT), the moment the mudslide hit.

FAMILIES LOST

As families and friends wait for news, Facebook postings and other social media sites have served as ways to mourn and share memories of those presumed lost. A memorial page includes pleas for information on many of the missing, as well as prayers, condolences and offers of assistance.

"My next door neighbor lost his father and his stepmother. My daughter is friends with his granddaughter. I have other friends that have lost their entire families up there," said 50-year-oldBrenda Roberson of nearby Arlington.

The plight of the Spillers family has garnered much attention. Postings on memorial web pages say Billy Spillers, 30, was at home with his four children when the hillside collapsed onto their home.

Four-year-old Jacob Spillers was pulled out alive but his sister Kaylee, 5, was found dead. Billy and his two other children are still unaccounted for. The mother was not at home and survived.

Linda McPherson, 69, a librarian died even as her husband was able to dig himself out, according to the Snohomish County Landslide Victims Memorial Page on Facebook, while a four-month-old girl and her grandmother were also among those who perished.

A volunteer searcher, Dayn Brunner, pulled the body of his sister, 36-year-old Summer Raffo, from the mud on Wednesday. The slide buried her in her car as she drove.

Authorities have in some cases allowed victims' relatives onto the site as the remains of loved ones are recovered, and a moment of silence is observed. Authorities have not pulled anyone alive from the rubble since the day the landslide hit, nor have they found signs of life.

Ron Brown, a county official involved in Snohomish County's search-and-rescue operations, said the debris field may end up being the final resting place for some victims who may be buried so thoroughly they cannot be found.

"That's going to be hallowed ground out there," he said.

John Farmer, 52, who lives east of the slide site, suggested at a community meeting on Friday that the site should never be rebuilt but turned into a park or other place of remembrance.

"A place where we can remember our loved ones, our neighbors, our families, our friends," Farmer said. (Additional reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Arlington, Wash.,; Carey Gillam in Kansas City and Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Carey Gillam and Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and James Dalgleish)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com