Coronavirus updates: Flexibility for Washington’s graduating seniors; giving in Puyallup
This page includes coronavirus developments around Washington state for Thursday, April 9.
Updated at 2:03 p.m.
Pierce County added 45 new COVID-19 cases to its total, now at 838, and one new death for a total of 17, according to numbers posted Thursday by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Of that total, 300 of the cases are in Tacoma.
Thursday’s death involved an Edgewood man in his 70s.
Totals for the county have been shifting each day as investigations unfold and duplicate cases are removed or more cases added, so the “new cases added” tally might not correspond to the previous day’s total.
No new testing numbers were released by the county. Tests have been run on 8,870 Pierce County residents as of April 5 by private and public labs, according to the state Department of Heath. The state health department is still facing a delay in reporting coronavirus test numbers.
Daily reports include cases received by 11:59 p.m. the previous day. Wednesday geographical totals are listed below with Tuesday’s numbers in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 24 (22)
▪ Central Pierce County: 48 (47)
▪ East Pierce County: 25 (22)
▪ Edgwood/Fife/Milton: 40 (35)
▪ Frederickson: 21 (no change)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 43 (42)
▪ Graham: 32 (27)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 6 (no change)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 21 (20)
▪ Lakewood: 67 (66)
▪ Parkland: 38 (33)
▪ Puyallup: 43 (36)
▪ South Hill: 51 (46)
▪ South Pierce County: 15 (14)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 8 (7)
▪ Spanaway: 28 (25)
▪ Tacoma: 300 (287)
▪ University Place: 28 (24)
Department of Commerce announces emergency grants
Updated at 12:25 p.m.
The Washington State Department of Commerce announced $5 million in emergency grants is now available to the 29 federally recognized tribes in the state to bolster their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These funds are immediately accessible to tribal governments coping with severe impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Commerce Director Lisa Brown. “From food distribution and isolation housing to medical equipment and services for vulnerable members, the grants will strengthen tribal communities all across the state.”
Each tribal government will receive an immediate grant of $100,000, with the remaining $2.1 million distributed based on a formula currently under development between Commerce and tribal leaders.
Eligible expenses and activities covered under the grant include but are not limited to:
▪ Costs to address public health needs in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and its impacts
▪ The creation and operation of isolation and quarantine housing
▪ Costs associated with the increased demand for social programs, such as elder care services, food distribution or behavioral health services
▪ Costs associated with assisting people experiencing homelessness or housing instability and needing physical distancing and other preventative measures
▪ Procurement of health care equipment, including telehealth equipment and licenses
▪ Unemployment match required under the federal CARES Act
▪ Purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE), cleaning and sanitation supplies
▪ Costs related to COVID -19 testing
▪ Other expenses in agreement with the Department of Commerce
Chamber creates resource for business concerns
Updated at 11:15 a.m.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, with help from the Economic Development Board (EDB) for Tacoma-Pierce County, is creating a 90-day Rapid Response Team. The team will consult with businesses and direct them to experts who will assist them with questions and concerns they have due to the Covid-19 crisis.
The consultations will occur via telephone and through an online question form. The experts will be able to help businesses work through the steps necessary to obtain available relief and direct them to resources based on their individual needs.
The Chamber and EDB have received thousands of questions from businesses over the last couple of weeks during their COVID-19 Business Information Call Series. These calls were created to get the most accurate and up-to-date information out to the business community. They occur three times per week, include federal, state, and local officials, leaders, and expert sources and have had an average of 600 attendee businesses per call.
The major areas of concern that businesses have expressed include: Capital & Loan Needs, Unemployment and HR Questions, Legal Assistance, and Communications, Marketing, & Technology Needs.
Businesses can now go to www.rapidresponsesouthsound.com to get their COVID-19 questions and concerns addressed. Instructions to join the next Covid-19 Business Info Series broadcast, can be found at www.tacomachamber.org.
Washington Health Benefit Exchange reminds those needing insure to contact them
Updated at 10:50 a.m.
Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) today is reminding uninsured individuals impacted by the COVID-19 situation in Washington that the special enrollment period is extended through May 8, 2020, for coverage beginning May 1, 2020.
Washingtonians who may qualify for health and dental coverage through Washington Healthplanfinder using existing special enrollment periods include individuals who:
▪ Are currently uninsured;
▪ Have recently lost their job;
▪ Have lost, or will soon lose, their employer coverage;
▪ Have experienced a change in income;
▪ Purchased coverage through a health sharing ministry that has received a cease and desist order from the Washington office of Insurance Commissioner for fraudulent activity; or
▪ Purchased full price coverage outside the Exchange marketplace, who due to a change in income could now benefit from the federal subsidies available exclusively through Washington Healthplanfinder.
Individuals who are currently uninsured can contact an Exchange certified Navigator, Broker or Enrollment Center to start the special enrollment process. These insurance experts are available by phone and can also answer any questions consumers may have and help them get enrolled. Consumers can find local experts using the WAPlanfinder Mobile App or visiting: https://www.wahealthplanfinder.org/_content/find-expert-advice.html
Individuals who have recently lost their job or their employer coverage, have experienced a change in income, or experienced another qualifying event can visit WAHealthplanfinder.org or use the WAPlanfinder Mobile App to sign up online.
State parks will reschedule April free days
Updated at 10:50 a.m.
Washington State Parks is postponing its two scheduled free days in April, due to coronavirus-related park closures.
April 11 and 22, a spring free day and Earth Day respectively, were to be the fourth and fifth of 12 State Parks free days in 2020, when visitors are not required to display the Discover Pass for day-use visits to a park.
Due to Gov. Jay Inslee’s extension of Washington’s stay at home order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19, Washington state parks will remain closed through May 4.
State Parks will designate two days later in the year to make up for the missed free days in April.
State Parks free days are in keeping with legislation that created the Discover Pass, which costs $30 for an annual pass or $10 for a one-day pass and is required for vehicle access to state recreation lands managed by Washington State Parks, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The Discover Pass legislation provided that State Parks could designate up to 12 free days when the pass would not be required to visit state parks. The free days apply only at state parks; the Discover Pass is still required on WDFW and DNR lands.
In addition to the new dates, to be announced, the remaining 2020 State Parks free days are:
▪ Saturday, June 6 — National Trails Day
▪ Sunday, June 7 — Free Fishing Day
▪ Saturday, June 13 — National Get Outdoors Day
▪ Tuesday, Aug. 25 — National Park Service Birthday
▪ Saturday, Sept. 26 — National Public Lands Day
▪ Wednesday, Nov. 11 — Veterans Day
▪ Friday, Nov. 27 — Autumn free day
Disturbance at prison with outbreak ends without injuries
Updated at 9:55 a.m.
A disturbance at a state prison in Monroe where inmates and staff members have been infected with COVID-19 has ended without any injuries, the state Department of Corrections said.
More than 100 inmates at the Monroe Correctional Complex began a demonstration at about 6 p.m. in the recreation yard. The incident was believed to be caused by recent positive test results of six inmates infected with COVID-19, according to DOC. Five staff members also have tested positive.
Prison guards unsuccessfully tried to halt the demonstration with verbal commands, pepper spray, and sting balls, which release light, noise and rubber pellets.
Inmates set off fire extinguishers in two housing areas within the Minimum Security Unit, where the COVID-19 outbreak has occurred. From the outside, the fire extinguishers gave off the appearance of smoke. The prison’s Emergency Response Team ordered the inmates to stop and about half of the inmates did so.
“Because there were men who [continued] to ignore the directives, sting balls were then discharged into the area. The individuals then stopped the destruction of the two housing units and came into compliance,” said DOC spokesperson Susan Biller.
DOC said there were no injuries to staff members or inmates.
“Both housing units were evacuated. The facility is in restricted movement. The situation is under control,” a DOC statement said.
Feds seize test kit materials bound for Belingham hospital, Northwest
Updated at 9:55 a.m.
A delivery of test kit materials that would have allowed Bellingham’s St. Joseph hospital and other PeaceHealth medical facilities in the Northwest to run COVID-19 tests quicker were seized and diverted by the federal government to the East Coast, PeaceHealth reports.
The Los Angeles Times first reported about the federal government quietly seizing orders for medical supplies made by hospitals in a story Tuesday, April 7. Those seizures came despite President Trump directing sates and hospitals to secure what supplies they could to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
The Times reported that PeaceHealth, which has 10 hospitals in Washington, Oregon and Alaska including St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, was among those impacted.
““It’s incredibly frustrating,” PeaceHealth Chief Operating Officer Richard DeCarlo told the Times. “We had put wheels in motion with testing and protective equipment to allow us to secure and protect our staff and our patients.”
The materials seized from PeaceHealth include vital test kit materials that are needed to run in-house analyzer machines, PeaceHealth Manager of Public Affairs Jeremy Rush told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
Those machines were purchased specifically for COVID-19 testing in PeaceHealth hospitals, Rush reported.
“Our analyzers remain idle, while we continue to send specimens to outside laboratory testing sites, prioritizing labs based on the shortest turnaround times,” Rush wrote.
In Northwest Washington, including St. Joseph hospital, that’s Northwest Labs in Bellingham, Rush reported.
If PeaceHealth hospitals had received the test kit materials and been able to do in-house testing, Rush wrote, and then it more quickly could rule out patients that tested negative for COVID-19. That, in turn, would have allowed the hospital to conserve personal protective equipment at a greater rate.
Board of Education adopts emergency rules for graduating seniors
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
The state Board of Education adopted emergency rules on Wednesday that allow school districts to apply for greater flexibility in awarding a diploma to high school seniors impacted by closures.
The new rules are immediately effective for the Class of 2020. They allow public school districts, charter schools and tribal compact schools approved by the Board to waive certain state graduation requirements for individual students.
To be approved, districts must make a good faith effort to give students opportunities to complete credits for high school graduation. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) gave districts guidance on how to offer students these opportunities. The waiver is an extra tool districts can use to make sure students graduate after the COVID-19 school building closures.
The new rules also allow private schools to waive credit-based graduation requirements for individual students and waive school day and instructional hour requirements for the 2019-20 school year.
Applications for the waiver should be available online by April 15. The Board plans to host a special meeting on April 21 to review the first round of applications.
Puyallup gives $10,000 to provide food to those in need
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
Puyallup City Council voted Tuesday evening to provide the food bank and another nonprofit with an additional $10,000 to meet the need during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a unanimous vote on a conference call, council members allotted $8,000 to the Puyallup Food Bank and $2,000 to All Saints Community Services, which provides food, emergency financial assistance and ministry to the homebound and sick.
Jim Beaudoin, CEO of the Puyallup Food Bank, said it is seeing four to five times more customers than usual. He doesn’t expect the increased need to slow down anytime soon.
“If we had a super vaccine tomorrow, people still have less money. They just missed out on a 12th of income. How long to recover from that?” Beaudoin said. “We’re going to see higher numbers for several months.”
The food bank has spent about $50,000 on food, so the additional $8,000 will help the nonprofit recover that, Beaudoin said.
There is such a demand for bulk food that what normally would take about 10 days is taking about two to three weeks to arrive, he said.
Puyallup sent aside $186,000 of the $133.7 million total budget last year for nonprofit organizations. Half of the additional grant money will come from a recycling program meant for local schools. Because schools have gone to online teaching, the $5,000 has been reallocated.
New system will decontaminate N95 masks so they can be reused
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Health reports that a disinfection system for N95 masks has been cleared and will be operational this week for hospitals.
The state has done a “dry run” cleaning exposed N95 masks, a Monday statement from the state DOH said. Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System will begin reaching out to hospitals directly.
Hospitals will send N95 masks to a system being set up at Camp Murray, close to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Battelle’s spokesperson, Katy Delaney said.
“We are working with local health systems to collect masks for testing this week,” Delaney said.
The facility uses concentrated hydrogen peroxide gas to decontaminate the masks in a 150-minute cycle. The system can decontaminate up to 80,000 N95 masks a day.
Some health care systems have opted out of the new technology, stating they already have measures in place.
MultiCare,which operates Tacoma General Hospital, is using its own internal mask reprocessing procedures, spokesperson Marce Edwards said. The health care system is using in-house sterilizers to process masks.
“It’s the same system we use for surgical instruments and other items that need to be sterilized,” Edwards said in an email.
Six inmates and five staff now infected with COVID-19 at Monroe prison
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
The number of inmates infected with COVID-19 at the Monroe Correctional Complex has jumped to six, and five staff members also have tested positive, according to the state Department of Corrections.
DOC announced late Tuesday that two male inmates, ages 68 and 28, are infected.
On Wednesday, DOC updated its website to indicate the jump in the number of cases, but it offered no details. A DOC spokesperson didn’t return phone and email messages seeking comment.
Eraina Strong, a Tacoma resident whose fiance is an inmate in the minimum security unit where the outbreak has occurred, said she is angry and frustrated about a lack of transparency by DOC.
“They need to give the families more information. They’re playing hide-and-seek, and they’re upsetting families and inmates,” she said.
Strong also said inmates in single cells with less than a year on their sentences should be released, freeing up more space so there can be social distancing by inmates.
The state said a 49-year-old inmate was transported Sunday to a local hospital for examination and rapid COVID-19 testing, which came back positive.
In response to that positive test, the 68-year-old inmate and 28-year-old inmate were transferred to an isolation unit on Sunday, provided COVID-19 testing on-site and the tests were returned as positive on Tuesday, said Susan Biller, the Joint Information Center spokesperson for the Department of Corrections.
The two inmates were housed in the minimum security unit, which also is the location of the first positive incarcerated individual in the state’s correctional system.
DOC said late Tuesday there are about 17 inmates in the isolation unit. The incarcerated men who remain in the minimum security unit were in protective isolation or quarantine as a preventative measure, the prison system said.
Additionally, the facility has made housing moves within the unit to further protect the most vulnerable individuals, DOC said.
All transfers in and out of the Monroe Correctional Complex have ceased, as of Tuesday morning.
Washington state COVID-19 case total now at 9,097 with 421 deaths
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
Washington’s Department of Health on Wednesday reported there are now 9,097 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 421 deaths so far in the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s up from 8,682 confirmed cases and 394 deaths reported on the state’s website Tuesday.
Despite the additional numbers, confidence in hospitals being able to handle the load of COVID-19 patients continues to grow among state and local officials.
On Wednesday, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that the field hospital set up at CenturyLink Field Event Center would be disassembled and redeployed elsewhere.
On Monday, Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier announced during an area-wide business teleconference call that a formerly planned field hospital at the Puyallup fairgrounds also would not be deployed.
The state’s reported COVID-19 case totals have been lagging for days as the reporting system struggles to process its volume of test results.
King County has the most reported cases in the state, with 3,688 cases and 244 deaths from COVID-19 listed on the county’s website.
Snohomish County has the second-most reported cases, with 1,695 cases and 63 deaths according to its website.
Seahawks’ DK Metcalf donates to Seattle hospital, hometown
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
DK Metcalf continues to show he’s advanced well beyond his 22 years.
And not just on the field
The Seahawks’ wide receiver and 2019 rookie star is donating $25,000 to Swedish Hospitals to fight the coronavirus pandemic in Seattle, and another $25,000 to feed needy people in his hometown of Oxford, Miss. Adam Schefter of ESPN was the first to report Metcalf’s donations Wednesday.
Swedish has a main medical center in Seattle and smaller ones in the city’s neighborhoods such as Ballard. It is one of the many hospitals in the country’s early epicenter for the COVID-19 outbreak that has had front-line workers battling the virus each day for more than a month.
In December, Metcalf partnered with a coffee company based in Georgia, Volcanica, to sell a “Decaf Metcalf” blend. Metcalf pledged to donate part of the proceeds to Prison Fellowship, a justice-reform advocacy group that helps prisoners, former prisoners and their families. That’s the organization Metcalf highlighted as his charity of choice for the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats game week last season.
Hospitalized patients in Washington higher than early reports
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
About 1,000 patients in Washington state hospitals have confirmed or suspected diagnoses of coronavirus, according to a new count that shows earlier surveys had undercounted such admissions.
The Seattle Times reports that Washington State Hospital Association statistics, current as of April 7, include 664 confirmed and another 331 suspected cases of the disease caused by the coronavirus. About half of the cases are in King County hospitals.
Cassie Sauer, the association’s executive director, said the updated count is from a new statewide reporting system that went into place on April 2.
This new system is more accurate than earlier surveys done in March, Sauer said, which counted weekly admissions of patients with COVID-19-like symptoms but did not track total patient counts. Those earlier surveys counted only 193 hospitalizations for the seven-day period that ended March 28, another 251 patients for the week of March 21 and 226 patients for the week ending March 7.
Sauer cautioned that the new numbers did not include all state hospitals and that the association staff continues to review the information to ensure it is being correctly reported.
The Seattle area saw the country’s first coronavirus outbreak, and so far there are more than 9,000 confirmed cases and nearly 421 deaths in Washington. Authorities say the new hospitalization numbers, although higher than the earlier counts, still roughly track with models showing Washington is flattening the curve of the coronavirus, and that hospitalizations statewide may have peaked. And Sauer, as well as state officials, note that if the COVID-19 patient counts do surge higher, there still is capacity in the Washington hospital system to treat people.
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 8:31 AM.
