By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
As it relates to helping to curb the spread of COVID-19 in our community, King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay has literally taken matters into his own hands. Zahilay, in partnership with volunteers and many community-based organizations, has been actively passing out facemasks in key neighborhoods throughout his district for over three weeks.
Because the virus has disproportionately affected Black and Brown communities, Zahilay wants to help build awareness about the impact that wearing masks can have on helping to get control of the virus.
“Coronavirus continues to be a deadly threat to our community,” says Zahilay. “We must slow its spread by physically distancing from one another and wearing masks.”
Working with the community to provide his constituents with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is a personal commitment that Zahilay has made in order to help combat this epidemic.
“I have been teaming up with community-based organizations and volunteers to pass out 24,000 masks,” Zahilay reveals. “My goal as a King County Councilmember is to put as many masks in the hands of people as possible.”
According to Zahilay, people have been grateful to receive the reusable cloth masks and have expressed their commitment to protecting themselves and one another.
“We’ve seen great enthusiasm from our neighbors in Skyway, The CD and the Southend,” says Zahilay. “It is also just been great to get face time with my constituents and to hear how they have been doing.”
Despite having a very large district, spanning the University District on the northern end, to South Seattle & Skyway on the southern end, Zahilay and his staffers say that they will continue to distribute masks throughout the district in the coming weeks.
“For the next few weeks, we’ll be passing out masks at key locations throughout the district,” said one staffer. “Come by and grab a free mask for you and your loved ones!”
While the coronavirus is still having a devastating impact on our community, King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay is doing his part to combat this virus one mask at a time.
