County wrestles with lifting restrictions

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The Board of Health will convene in a special meeting at 5 p.m. on May 7 with county commissioners and Port Townsend City Council members to discuss whether Jefferson County can move forward into the state’s “Phase 2” of reopening businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

During a press conference May 1, Gov. Jay Inslee surprised county officials with news that while the state would not be lifting the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order on May 4, 10 counties in Washington—Jefferson, Garfield, Columbia, Ferry, Pend Oreille, Lincoln, Wahkiakum, Skamania, Kittitas and Grays Harbor—could loosen restrictions sooner than the rest of the state.

It is up to local jurisdictions, including the county’s Department of Health, Board of Health, and county commissioners to decide if Jefferson County will lift restrictions.

“We had about five minutes’ warning before the governor’s press release on Friday afternoon,” commissioner Kate Dean said. “Given the national media and public outrage over this issue, I immediately felt anxious at the enormity of this decision.”

Washington as a whole moved into the governor’s first phase of lifting restrictions on May 5. This includes allowing some outdoor recreation, such as hunting, fishing, golf, boating and hiking. It also allows construction to resume under agreed-upon safety measures, as well as landscaping, automobile sales, car washes and pet-walking. Drive-in spiritual services are also allowed.

The next phase, which Jefferson County could move to immediately, allows outdoor recreation such as camping and going to beaches with fewer than five people, social gatherings of no more than five people, and limited non-essential travel within proximity of one’s home.

It also allows certain businesses to reopen, including manufacturing, new construction, domestic services, retail, real estate, professional services, hair and nail salons and restaurants at less than 50% of normal capacity and with tables that seat five people or less.

“There are people here and everywhere across the country with such strong opinions and feelings: that we should open up, allow the economy to resume and let the virus work its way through or that we should absolutely stay on lock-down until there is a vaccine,” Dean said. “Most people fall clearly to one side of this argument or another, and I know that trying to find an informed, nuanced solution would be tough and still ultimately offend a lot of Jefferson County residents. I suspect it will be the hardest decision I’ve made to date in this job.”

There are many factors that go into deciding whether to lift some restrictions.

“It’s not a simple process,” said Tom Locke, Jefferson County’s public health officer. “It’s a thorough one, and it is very much evidence-based. We paid a huge price to get as far as we are, and we don’t want to lose ground.”

No decisions have been made whether to proceed, Locke said. The May 7 meeting of the Board of Health will be a “scoping meeting” to discuss how to make the most community-minded decision.

“We want the community to be united on this,” he said. “We’re thinking it will be a two-week process at the shortest.”

Other counties are eager to reopen, he said. For example, Kittitas County had its board of health meet and submit a plan to move to Phase 2 on May 4.

If the county chooses to proceed, there are specific processes that must be followed.

The public health officer must make a recommendation to the board of health, which will vote on the plan in an open public meeting. The seven-person board consists of the three county commissioners, Pamela Adams who represents the city council, Kees Kolf who represents the Jefferson Healthcare board of commissioners, and citizens-at-large Sheila Westerman and Dennis Stearns.

After the Board of Health approves a plan, the Board of County Commissioners must vote to approve or deny the plan. It will then be submitted to the state’s Department of Health for review. The plan must include input from Jefferson Healthcare.

A key factor to opening up businesses and social gatherings is having a higher testing capacity. According to Amy Yaley, communications director at Jefferson Healthcare, the hospital is now capable of processing tests in its lab.

“This allows us to do rapid testing for patients who need to be hospitalized and urgent procedures,” she wrote in an email response to questions from the Leader. “If we can eliminate them as COVID-positive, it will assist us in ensuring safety of care for our patients and employees as well as proper PPE conservation.”

Dean said she’d like to know what authority the commissioners have to limit out-of-county visitors and whether the county can enforce measures such as requiring masks to be worn in stores.

“How do we open up parts of the economy without signaling to people that they still must be practicing behaviors such as distancing and sanitizing, when we are already seeing people tire of this and comply less?” Dean said. “Are there ways to re-open that don’t put low-income people at greatest risk? Many service jobs are low wage, don’t have benefits and require a lot of exposure to the public. Many businesses don’t want to open due to these risks.”

Jefferson County’s aging population and tourism-based economy could increase the risk of transmission and strain on hospital services.

Opening up businesses and recreation opportunities might provide incentives for residents outside the county to violate the state’s non-essential travel ban and come to Jefferson County, Locke said.

Right now, Jefferson County has 28 confirmed coronavirus cases. This has not changed for more than 25 days.

In the United States, the number of cases has climbed past 1 million. In the state, there are more than 15,000 cases.

“We’re definitely in the post-surge phase of this first wave of the coronavirus pandemic,” Locke said.

But lifting restrictions too early could lead to a new, greater spike in cases, he added.

“We’re a nation that’s getting very tired of being in quarantine,” he said. “A number of states are loosening their restrictions or abandoning them altogether. … You risk making all your sacrifice for nothing.”

Locke said he does not want Jefferson County to be an “uncontrolled experiment” in reopening early.

“People who don’t believe in science are going to have to discover the hard way that communicable diseases don’t care what your beliefs or political ideologies are,” he said.