Youre a decade late, Jack.
You're a decade late, Jack. Twitter screenshot

Happy Monday Tuesday! Nathalie Graham will pop in here in a second to give you some updates from a Washington State Department of Health presser this afternoon, but first...

Twitter fact-checks Trump for the very first time: Early Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted out misinformation about how mail-in ballots would cause the November presidential election to be rigged. Then, late Tuesday, Twitter did what many had thought was unthinkable for the tech company: they fact-checked their biggest user. Twitter added warning links urging people to "get the facts about mail-in ballots." The links lead to this page, below, which links to factual reporting.

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Remember George Floyd: A graphic bystander video published on Facebook on Monday night showed a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on a handcuffed black man's neck, after he pleaded that he could not breathe and stopped moving. The man, later identified as 46-year-old George Floyd, died in police custody. Clearly, there are immediate comparisons to Eric Garner. The four Minneapolis police officers involved have been fired, reports AP, and the death is under investigation by the FBI.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey released this statement over Facebook on Tuesday: Click "see more" to read the whole statement.

New unionizing efforts over at the Seattle Times:


Microsoft is teaming up to make a Minecraft cloak: In case you're into that sort of thing.

Okay, time for Nathalie's updates:

The Washington State Department of Health released more data today around COVID-19 cases: Fifty-two percent of confirmed cases have been in women, but, more men are being hospitalized (54 percent) and are dying (54 percent) from COVID-19. Agewise, the bulk of confirmed cases is coming from the 20-39 age range (31 percent) and the 40-59 age range (34 percent). But the hospitalization and death rate is much lower for those age groups. Forty percent of hospitalizations are in people aged 60-79 and 52 percent of deaths happen in those who are 80 years old or older. The DOH actually made a pretty easily navigable dashboard you can play around with here.

In case you're thirsty for more data: The day with the highest confirmed cases (444), hospitalizations (88), and deaths (33) statewide was March 23. Statewide, 6.1 percent of tests were positive. In King County, 8.1 percent of individuals tested were positive.

More counties are opening up: So far, 21 counties are in Phase 2 of re-opening. There are two more under consideration. The criteria remain that a county must report fewer than 10 new cases per 100k residents over the last two weeks in order to be eligible. It's unclear whether these same standards to open will be used to open up the state as a whole. Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to have more on that later this week. The clock is ticking since the projected re-opening date, June 4, is coming quickly.

Two counties that were eligible are no longer eligible: Clark County and Kittitas County had their Phase 2 eligibility rescinded because of outbreaks occurring in nursing homes and food processing facilities. The latter is a big problem statewide with 68 outbreaks at places like this and more in the agriculture industry cropping up all over. An outbreak is defined by the DOH as two or more cases.

If those re-opening criteria stay the same: King County may have some more waiting to do. Incomplete data from last week show nearly 250 confirmed new cases. We'll see how those numbers shake out in the coming days but damn.


Thanks, Nathalie!

And ICYMI: This pandemic is very much not over. “We’re still very much in a phase where the disease is actually on the way up,” said WHO’s executive director today. Stats from around the world:

India, with a population of over 1.3 billion, saw a record single-day jump in new cases for the seventh straight day. It reported 6,535 new infections Tuesday, raising its total to over 145,000, including almost 4,200 deaths.

Chilean authorities said Tuesday that 95% of its 2,400 intensive care beds are occupied even after doubling capacity from March levels. An average of 4,000 new infections are being reported daily.

In Brazil, where President Jair Bolsonaro has raged against state and local leaders enforcing stay-at-home measures, WHO warned that before reopening the economy, authorities must have enough testing in place to control the spread of the virus.

Apple TV+ is rebooting Fraggle Rock: The streaming service has struck a deal with the Jim Henson Company and will produce a formal reboot of the children's show, reports Vulture.

We're doomed: There were crowds all over America for Memorial Day weekend. Here's a fun crowd in Daytona, Florida, via Orlando Weekly:

More pool parties: Of course pools would be the hill Americans would die on.