The Washington unemployment website will be offline today, and the phone hotline will be unavailable, as system updates occur. Everything is expected to be back up on Sunday.

People who’ve had a positive test result for the COVID-19 disease and recovered, and have been symptom free for 28-days, might qualify to donate blood plasma to be used in making antibodies to aid the recovery of currently sick patients. Individuals are asked to call 206-689-6689 to assist these efforts, or visit bloodworksNW.org to sign up.

The governor has prohibited all energy, landline phone, and water providers in Washington from disconnecting residential accounts, or charging late payment or reconnection fees, effective through May 4.

The proclamation can be found in full at https://governor.wa.gov and following links in the “News and Media” section.

The US-Canadian border will continue to be closed to nonessential travel for at least another 30 days.