With the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic spreading we’re doing our best to keep up on how your New Tech Northwest community can stay healthy and safe. Please use and share the resources below with your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. Be well and be kind; we’re in this together.
General Guidelines
- If you have traveled to an identified high-risk zone, we ask that you follow the advice of local authorities and self-quarantine at home for 14 days
- If you exhibit flu-like symptoms, such as respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath or breathing difficulties, please err on the side of caution and self-quarantine at home for 14 days (or until you are cleared by a healthcare provider)
- Stay home when you or a family member is sick
- Frequently and thoroughly clean hands with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer or soap and water
- Clean and disinfect frequently used objects and surfaces
- When coughing and sneezing cover mouth and nose with flexed elbow or tissue – throw tissue away immediately and wash hands
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth
- Avoid close contact (maintain at least 6 feet of distance) with anyone who has a fever, sneezing or cough
- If you have a fever, cough or difficulty breathing, seek medical attention and call in advance. Follow the directions of your local health authority
Health, Safety and Business Financial Support Resources:
Bloodworks Northwest – The COVID-19 outbreak is impacting the PNW blood supply. Anyone who is healthy is encouraged to donate blood or host a blood drive! Hosting a drive is easy and we’ll partner you with one of our local Donor Resources Representatives to guide you every step of the way. We’ll even provide the juice and cookies for your drive! Bloodworks policies comply with FDA, CDC, local health departments, and other applicable recommendations related to Covid-19. Appointment and information at Bloodworksnw.org 800-398-7888 or text bloodapp to 91985 to receive a link on your phone. Please check website for extended donor center hours
Bellevue Chamber is matching people (and nonprofits) needing help with people (and nonprofits and businesses!) with something to offer. Learn more and offer help or ask for help here.
Business Resiliency Toolkit (Washington Small Business Development Center)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
FAQs, fact sheets, and live updates (Public Health–Seattle & King County)
Financial Assistance – If you’re a company who has five or less employees, you could be eligible for a $10K grant from the City of Seattle.
Financial, export, insurance and workforce assistance for directly-impacted businesses (Governor’s Office)
Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Interactive Dashboard – with real-time information on reported cases
King County & Seattle Public Health
“Planning for a Coronavirus Pandemic: Specific Instructions to Employers” (Public Health–Seattle & King County)
Small Business Administration applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loans to small businesses heavily affected by the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. These low-interest loans provide working capital to help businesses maintain operations and retain their workforces. The full statement can be found on the SBA website, and they’re also providing additional guidance and resources for employers. These loans can be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact. More details can be found here.
Sea.citi Seattle Tech COVID-19 Response – information and resources to help tech workers stay informed and ensure social distancing strategies don’t completely upend community connections.
Seattle Times daily live updates. You can find these on seattletimes.com each morning with need-to-know breaking news and information updated throughout the day.
Seattle Times visual guide outlining facts about COVID-19 and precautions on how to stay healthy.
Seattle Times complete reporting on this topic, with the latest coverage at the top.
Washington SBDC is holding free webinars every few days on small business resiliency and the SBA loan process. Click here to find additional resources from the SBDC.
Washington State Department of Health – has set up a call center to answer questions. Anyone who has questions about what is happening with coronavirus in Washington State, how it is spread, and what to do if you have symptoms should call the hotline at 1 (800) 525-0127 and press #.
Washington State Shared Work Program
Washington State Standby Program
Washington State Partial Unemployment Program
Thank you to Sea.citi for compiling the resources below:
By now, we’ve all seen the videos and memes about washing our hands (you can even make your own), and read the best advice for staying healthy. Here are other actions you can take to support your community:
- Stay Home.
- Share how you’re doing — The King County COVID-19 Community Study, a.k.a. KC3S, is recruiting King County residents to tell their stories.
- Build software solutions to drive social impact — register for Devpost’s COVID-19 Global Hackathon.
- Volunteer — United Way of King County is aggregating volunteer needs, check out the listings and follow their social-distancing-compliant guidelines. If you’re connected to a nonprofit in need of volunteers, direct them here to submit their opportunities. Thanks to reader Liahann for the tip!
- Donate masks — a group of volunteers is collecting mask donations to drop off at hospitals. Thanks to reader Brett from New Tech Northwest for making the connection!
- Help track the virus — sign up for at home testing to help officials understand the pandemic.
- Get advice from an expert — Dan Rosen, chairman of Seattle-based startup investment group Alliance of Angels, shares tips for startups.
- Have a dance party — join Dance Church’s live stream and/or DJ D-Nice’s live sets on Instagram.
- Donate to local food banks — food banks are a lifeline for those experiencing food insecurity, they also collect and distribute hygiene products and accept financial donations.
- Give blood — Sixty percent of blood supply comes from blood drives at schools, community centers, churches – all of these have been cancelled. Supply is collapsing both here and nationally. It’s needed for cancer patients, women delivering babies, surgeries – heart surgeries, and car accidents, among other needs.
- Join online community groups on Facebook and offer support to your neighbors.
- Understand the impact of social distancing with clear, aesthetically calming visuals.
- Donate supplies — the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce has partnered with King County to identify needs for the isolation, quarantine, and recovery sites that the County has set up — see the list of items that the County needs here, and contact Meg Hanan at the Seattle Metro Chamber to coordinate your donation.
- Fill out your Census 2020 form — you should have received your invitation to respond in the mail, if you haven’t, get in touch with them directly.
- Shop responsibly — grocery and pharmacy workers are on the frontlines, here are some tips to help keep this vital workforce safe.
- The impact of COVID-19 restrictions on our local food and beverage industry can’t be understated, support businesses that are offering take-out, delivery or special services during this time. You can also donate to the Seattle Hospitality Emergency Fund.
- Support local farmers — you can follow Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Markets on Instagram to learn more about connecting to local producers and donate to their Good Farmer Fund.
- Support local artists.
- Volunteers have set up a mutual aid group — offer your support here, you can also request support.
How Tech Communities are Supporting Our Community
- Moz Academy is offering free SEO training through May 31.
- King County is using Tableau’s data visualization software to help us better understand the outbreak.
- Two Seattle startups, MDmetrix and TransformativeMed are helping doctors and other health care providers to see the underlying trends in COVID-19 cases.
- Cloud Paper regularly donates toilet paper to Food Lifeline. During the COVID-19 crisis, the startup has pledged another 10,000 rolls to help those in need.
- Minecraft is offering free educational content in their marketplace.
- All In Seattle is a coalition of tech, business, and sports leaders from across our region who collectively raised $27 million to help people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
- Vulcan pledged $100,000 to the COVID-19 Response Fund for the Chinatown-International District, where they have their HQ, and $25,000 to match employee gifts to the Seattle Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund.
- Amazon launched the AWS Diagnostic Development Initiative to accelerate , research and testing in the fight against COVID-19.
- Audible offers free children’s audiobooks while schools are closed.
- Facebook launched a COVID-19 Information Center — find it at the top of your news feed.
- Microsoft and Adaptive Biotechnologies are partnering to map the immune response to COVID-19. Microsoft has also mobilized its global supply to chain to secure and distribute medical supplies to healthcare workers.
- TMobile launched its lowest-priced smartphone plan to help people stay connected.
- Ridwell is using its infrastructure to collect and distribute supplies to vulnerable populations.
- Redfin has suspended in-person open houses but has a list of tips for selling your home while abiding by social distancing.
- The SnapBar launched Keep Your City Smiling — gift boxes that support local businesses while spreading joy.
- Doordash announced a package of relief programs designed to promote the health and safety of DoorDash couriers, merchants and customers while supporting local small businesses to generate up to $200 million in additional sales.
- Skopos Labs developed a resource hub for tracking federal policymaking related to COVID-19, compiling legislative and regulatory activity from over 200 federal agencies.
- F5 and NGINX help websites to scale and cope with surges in web traffic — they are providing one free year of NGINX Plus for those in the education, public, and nonprofit sectors and opening up their core training at no cost.
- Smartsheet created free templates that can be used by other organizations to build their own coronavirus preparedness dashboard.
- Mystery has adapted to social distancing by developing Mystery Night In — a personalized evening from the comfort of home that supports small businesses affected by COVID-19.
- Expedia has a handy COVID-19 resource page to manage your travel cancellation needs.
- A number of companies are providing free, online educational resources:
- Verizon’s COVID-19 relief efforts are centered on students and healthcare workers.
- Amazon has announced a $5M fund to support small businesses in SLU, established the Amazon Relief Fund focused on supporting contract workers, and contributed $1M to the Seattle Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund. Despite major economic contraction in our region, the surge in online shopping is spurring Amazon to hire 100,000 warehouse workers, while also committing to temporary $2 raises for hourly workers. Amazon will also prioritize medical supplies and household goods for shipment.
- Tableau has launched a free resource page that includes relevant data visualizations about the spread of COVID-19 and the public health response.
- Uber is taking a number of steps to help keep communities safe, including suspending shared ride options and pledging free food delivery to medical providers.
- Several large tech companies, including Expedia and Amazon, are continuing to pay hourly support staff even as on-campus needs are significantly decreased.
- Facebook has given the World Health Organization unlimited free ads to help spread sound information on the platform.
- Google is making it easier for businesses and schools to stay connected by offering free access to advanced Hangouts Meet video-conferencing capabilities to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers globally. Google has also set up a fund to offer paid sick leave to contractors and temp workers and committed to scrubbing misinformation from search and YouTube.
- Comcast is helping people stay connected while social distancing by offering two months of free service for new customers of their Internet Essentials service.
- T-Mobile will give up to $500,000 to Feeding America and $100,000 to the Seattle Foundation’s COVID-19 Respond Fund. They will also match employee donations to these efforts 2:1.
Articles & Podcasts
9 charts that explain the coronavirus pandemic
Applications for working remotely and collaborating
Commonsense Guide to Coronavirus for Event and Conference Planners
Corona Virus Timeline and Facts Infographic
Employee tips for working from home
How to support employee mental health through coronavirus [podcast] – James Pratt interviews the Head of Global Employee Wellness from Twitter and the Head of Clinical Care from Modern Health
One Huge Mistake Leaders Make in Preparing for the Coronavirus Pandemic
Resources for child care and at-home learning for kids to teens as we wait out coronavirus closures
WFH… Now what? 5 tips to ensure your remote work success (and dozens of links )
Which food-related industries can stay open under Gov. Jay Inslee’s ‘stay-at-home’ order?
Working from home in the age of COVID-19: 3 benefits of remote work
Working from home in the age of COVID-19: 3 tips for supporting your teams
