First Responders and Essential Personnel are employees who report to work during an emergency. These employees are often under extreme stress as they adapt their work in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

To support these employees in managing stress and caring for their own-well-being, Balanced You has developed a Self-care Toolkit for First Responders and Essential Personnel. In this toolkit, which is designed to be printed or read electronically, you will find resources on: 

• Physical health 

• Burnout and secondary traumatic stress 
• Mental health resources and stress reduction techniques 
• Tips for integrating well-being into the workday 

The toolkit can be downloaded at the Balanced You blog. Please help us in distributing this toolkit via email and print to King County’s First Responders and Essential Personnel. 

King County offers a variety of leaves to help employees support our community and take care of themselves and their families during the COVID-19 outbreak. You can learn more about available leaves for COVID-19-related issues and their eligibility criteria on this webpage. There is also more information about other types of leaves on our Benefits website.

Leave options include:

• Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act
• Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act
• MOA with unions for Paid Administrative Leave (PAL)
• Requesting Paid Administrative Leave – COVID-19

Find out more.

With a guiding vision of “Making King County a welcoming community where every person can thrive,” King County employees are thinking about how best to support each other and our community through this pandemic. Though we are not all on the front lines, the actions we take are critical to the success of those who are. 

Balanced You supports King County employees in living the “We Are One Team” value by providing tips on how you can do what you can, where you can to support the efforts of our front line workers to contain the virus and help those in our community who are most vulnerable. Visit the Balanced You blog for more information. 

Stress levels are higher-than-normal lately, due to the ongoing pandemic. A mindfulness practice can help you reduce stress at home and at work. King County employees are invited to join a free mindfulness class, or series of classes, through a partnership between Balanced You and Mindfulness Northwest. Classes are currently being hosted online. Visit the Balanced You blog for schedule and registration information. 

The 2020 Census is underway and more households across America are responding every day. Over 70 million households have responded to date, representing over 48% of all households in America. In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. Census Bureau is adjusting 2020 Census operations in order to: 

• Protect the health and safety of the American public and Census Bureau employees. 
• Implement guidance from federal, state and local authorities. 
• Ensure a complete and accurate count of all communities. 

Under this plan, the Census Bureau would extend the window for field data collection and self-response to October 31, 2020. For more information about the census and this update, view the official press release from the Census Bureau here. 

Crossposted from Metro Matters 

As the region continues to respond to COVID-19, King County Metro will reduce weekend bus service beginning Saturday April 18, and further reduce weekday bus service starting Monday, April 20. Water Taxi and First Hill Streetcar will continue to operate on previously reduced schedules. 

This revised Reduced Schedule (below) provides a core network of public transportation services to maintain access to critical supplies, services, and worksites across the region. 

Read more from Metro Matters

Crossposted from Public Health Insider 

New research from the Institute for Disease Modeling suggests the spread of COVID-19 illness is slowing down thanks to the collective actions of residents in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, who are broadly following the “stay home” message. 

Public policies on social distancing correlated with mobility reductions 

Newly published findings suggest the spread of COVID-19 slowing is good news, and health officials stress that continuing social distancing guidelines is the most-effective way to continue this positive trend and avoid a resurgence of the illness. 

Read more from Public Health Insider