March 16, 2020  

Dear SHA Residents:

I want to reassure you that the Seattle Housing Authority is committed to doing everything we can to ensure the health and safety of our residents and staff during the coronavirus outbreak. We are in continuous close contact with public health officials, City of Seattle emergency response teams and other response leaders, and we are following all directives from the governor, county executive, mayor and public health officer.

This morning, Governor Inslee expanded restrictions on public interaction, and strongly stated that any contact, even on a small scale, presents a significant public health risk. He and the public health officer for Seattle and King County emphasized that increasing physical distancing is the only means we have to slow the spread of coronavirus. The City of Seattle, King County and other government and private entities across the region and country have closed public-facing locations.

For your protection, SHA is closing property management offices and customer service centers in all SHA buildings. Other SHA facilities where people normally come in person are also closing.

We remain fully committed to serving SHA residents, and are making services available by phone, email and our website. You can contact your property management staff anytime. If you don’t know how to reach them, phone numbers are posted on the property management office in each building. Or you can go to our website at seattlehousing.org and select “Contact us” then select “Contact your property manager.”

SHA and property management staff will continue to visit buildings on a regular basis to ensure building systems are functioning, common areas are sanitized and the property is safe.

On a separate flyer, we are providing you with information on how to proceed with common interactions between residents and SHA, and updating you on the latest public health guidance.

At this time, there has been only one reported case of someone testing positive for the coronavirus in an SHA building. It is important to note that while SHA has no reason to doubt reports by residents and others of a positive test for COVID-19, we want you to know that SHA is not able to confirm a diagnosis or test results for coronavirus. Public health officials and medical staff will not disclose or confirm the information for medical privacy reasons. Also for privacy reasons, SHA is not able to share names or other identifying information unless a person chooses to have their medical or other information shared. What we can and will share with other building residents, is a credible report that someone in the building has tested positive, should that occur.

These are challenging times, but we are here for you. I wish you all the best and echo our governor in strongly urging you to follow public health directives and avoid all contact with other people that isn’t absolutely necessary. We will continue to keep you updated on SHA services during this unprecedented public health crisis.

Take care,

Andrew Lofton
 
Executive Director