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Under the Governors July 20 order phase 2 continues to limit gatherings to 5 people. I don’t think there is any chance that we will move to phase 3 by August 1. Even if that happened the newly added order limits phase 3 gatherings to 10 people rather than 50 people. I sure hope the Republican Party in Jefferson County has an alternate plan. Unless the virus disappears before the end of the month this gathering will violate gathering limits no matter which phase we are in. Non essential travel is still prohibited as far as I can gather.

The more dangerous risk to residents is the planned Aug1 opening of Fort Worden to guest tourism. The county commissioners all decided to strongly discourage tourism. It is a shame that tourism revenues are more important than our health and lives. 33% of us are at high risk due to age and if you take into account the many comorbid conditions of so many Americans due to obesity and diabetes and heart disease fully half of our population is at high risk. People here are more likely to die from acquiring this viral infection than any other community in the state or nation.

It is sad that we have to rely on Governor Inslee to save us from ourselves! Shouldn’t all of our public bodies In Jefferson County recognize the much higher risk we have here. The statewide picture and phases are one size fits all and the number of high risk residents we have here isn’t reflected in any other county in Washington. We need an extra layer of protection and that needs to be provided by our local public bodies no matter what other counties do or what phase the state allows us to move into. The CDC recently issued a report that concluded that that the wave of infections across the southern states was caused by tourists coming from places where there was a high infection rate that is not under control.

Where will Fort Worden guests be coming from beginning August 1. I hope that the board members will take turns personally greeting the guests that are so important to them and their revenues. That way they would be sharing with their staff the risks caused by their determination to open. They stated that they feared the community would lose confidence in them if they didn’t proceed witH tourism plans. Which community would that be?