SEATTLE — You relish the little things here in Seattle: Toilet paper is back on some shelves, the hoarders sated for the moment. Instead of making vodka, distilleries are rolling out hand sanitizer. The dreaded daily number of new coronavirus cases shows that while the curve is not yet flat, the rate has gone both down and up on different days this week, carrying our hopes on the bumpy ride.

As for the tally of the dead: Instead of doubling every five days in Washington State, as it was just two weeks ago, now it doubles roughly every nine — a horrific number still, but that movement is in the right direction.

We are not necessarily your city’s future, but a likely version of your future if you do the right thing. Washington State had the first known case of Covid-19 in the United States, on Jan. 19; the first reported death, more than a month after that; and the first full-blown outbreak. We’re well ahead of the rest of the nation in our cycle of denial, panic, action.

Social distancing started early. Testing has been broad, though more help from the federal government is needed. A communal fight or flight instinct has moved into something more settled. Even as the president floats an idea that could sacrifice the elderly to keep Wall Street happy, we take care of our own. We will not throw Grandma from the train.