MY EDMONDS NEWS
Posted: July 13, 2021
Jan. 21, 2020 was the day our world turned upside down.
It was the day that Snohomish County discovered the first case of coronavirus in the U.S. An Everett man who had traveled to Wuhan, China became America’s “patient zero.
On Tuesday — 527 days later — county leaders held their last scheduled COVID-19 briefing. “We had no idea what the future would hold for us,” County Executive Dave Somers told reporters at the start of the last weekly session.
The pandemic is not over. But the county believes it is time to wind down the briefings. In the beginning, Somers said, the goal was to protect lives, protect the most vulnerable from the virus and protect the health care system – all while doing what they could to help those that the virus devastated. It was, he added, “a challenge like no other we’ve ever faced.” Now, as the county winds down, Somers said, “the focus is on building the infrastructure for recovery.”