Coronavirus updates: Pierce County Council allocates CARES Act funding
This page includes coronavirus developments around Washington state for Wednesday, May 6.
Updated at 4:15 p.m.
Pierce County on Wednesday saw 39 new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths.
The county’s total for cases now is 1,591 with 54 deaths, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
The county’s COVID-19 tracking page unveiled a redesigned look on Wednesday, listing the number of assumed recovered cases (756) and estimated active confirmed cases (835) for Pierce County.
More details on the changes are listed on the health department’s blog.
Hospitalizations were marginally up over last week, 25 vs. 24 the previous week, but both still markedly lower than early April, which registered 46.
According to the state Department of Health’s COVID-19 data dashboard, there have been 16,114 tests run on Pierce County residents, with 8.9 percent positive. That data lags the county reporting on case totals.
On Wednesday, the county reported 318 cases at congregate care facilities, up from 266 last week.
Wednesday’s geographical totals are listed below with Tuesday’s numbers in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 38 (37)
▪ Central Pierce County: 120 (118)
▪ East Pierce County: 45 (no change)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 81 (80)
▪ Frederickson: 53 (no change)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 50 (no change)
▪ Graham: 49 (no change)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 7 (no change)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 39 (38)
▪ Lakewood: 163 (158)
▪ Parkland: 80 (79)
▪ Puyallup: 103 (87)
▪ South Hill: 84 (no change)
▪ South Pierce County: 34 (no change)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 18 (no change)
▪ Spanaway: 54 (53)
▪ Tacoma: 518 (507)
▪ University Place: 48 (no change)
▪ Unknown: 7 (no change)
Daily reports include cases received by 11:59 p.m. the previous day.
New partnership offers offers Tacoma school kids access to devices, internet
Updated at 1:20 p.m.
A new program launched this week to help bridge the gap for thousands of Tacoma students still without access to laptops or internet for online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tacoma Public Schools, the Foundation for Tacoma Students and Rainier Connect have partnered to provide devices and high-speed internet to Tacoma families.
The foundation has set aside $30,000 to help purchase and distribute laptops to students and started contacting families this week.
Expecting that funding to go quickly, the foundation also opened a platform to collect donations from the community. Donations can be made at graduatetacoma.org.
Students also will be provided with home internet service through Rainier Connect. The connections will be for up to one year at no cost.
“We want Tacoma students to be successful and since they cannot be in school, we’re proud to do our part with broadband connections that support their education while class is safely taking place at home,” Brian Haynes, president and CEO of Rainier Connect, said in a press release.
Rainier Connect provides the installation, a wireless modem and will aid families in connecting their devices to the internet in the home, spokesperson Lorie Hills said in an email.
“We have also established a way for us to connect them to the district IT contact if they call in with device problems,” Hills said. “Essentially, our goal is to make this as seamless and easy as possible for each family.”
Rainier Connect is offering the same program to the Eatonville and Clover Park school districts.
A list of 50 local free high-speed Wi-Fi locations is also now available and listed at TacomaLearns.org.
Tacoma Pride street festival canceled
Updated at 9:35 a.m.
Originally set to take place on July 11, the 2020 Tacoma Pride street festival was canceled Monday due to concerns over safety associated with the coronavirus.
The host of the yearly event, the Rainbow Center, released a statement explaining the reasoning:
“The dual issues of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis have created a world of unknowns. Many businesses and activity centers have been closed or operating under severe restrictions. It remains unclear whether it will be safe to gather in groups of any significant size well into the summer. For all these reasons, Rainbow Center will not hold a street festival to celebrate Tacoma Pride in 2020.”
The annual event draws upwards of 15,000 attendees to Pacific Avenue, as well as the surrounding businesses, with vendors, music, and programming centered around the LGBTQ community.
Rainbow Center executive director Troy Christensen said in a phone interview with The News Tribune the decision was not easy.
“We’re concerned that we’re not going to provide a really important service that our community expects from us each year. Even though we’ll be doing smaller gatherings, it’s not the same as having the large event that people have grown accustomed to,” Christensen said. “It was a really difficult decision, especially given some of the things that are happening at the federal level around LGBTQ rights at a time when we need to be as visible as we can be.
“Now we’re not going to be as visible.”
But, Christensen said, safety was the paramount concern and something organizers weren’t willing to risk even if the stay-at-home order might be lifted by then.
“We just can’t imagine that it’s going to be reasonable by July to have an event that size,” he said.
The event last year, while not billed as a fundraiser, brought in revenue which is likely to be lost.
“We made about sixty thousand more than we spent last year,” Rebecca Rossi, director of development, said in the same phone interview.
Pierce County Council allocates CARE funding
Updated at 8:35 a.m.
The Pierce County Council voted Tuesday to allocate nearly $158 million of federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to support the region as it recovers from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Council directed funding to the following priorities:
▪ Public Health Emergency Response — $67 Million
▪ Economic Stabilization and Recovery Programs — $30 Million
▪ Community Response and Resilience — $23 Million
▪ Essential Government Services — $15 Million
▪ Contingency Reserve — $23 Million
The funding priorities acknowledge the health care needed to address the recovery from this pandemic while also addressing the challenges County residents and businesses are facing during this time.
“We know that time is of the essence in standing up our greater community and getting Pierce County back open,” said Council Chair Doug Richardson. “As a body, the Council has opted to move swiftly with broad direction and provide for flexibility as circumstances change.” Prior to the CARES Act, the Council had previously funded food banks and small businesses loans.
Richardson noted that timeliness and flexibility are two of seven funding principles adopted by the Council in their deliberation.
The other principles are maintaining accountability and outreach, demonstrating financial stewardship, using leverage (with existing, trusted organizations) for maximum effectiveness, employing a Countywide approach, using an equity and vulnerability lens when awarding funds, and ensuring compliance.
The CARES Act funds must be fully spent by December 30, 2020 or it will be forfeited back to the federal government.
The legislation mandates that 60% of the funds may be spent, now, with a review by the Council in 60 days. Executive Bruce Dammeier will provide weekly updates on expenditures and project milestones to the Council.
Brown Bear set to reopen car washes at 51 locations
Updated at 8:35 a.m.
Seattle-based Brown Bear Car Wash will reopen on Thursday in conjunction with Washington State’s phased reopening of the economy.
The family-owned company is the largest car wash operator in the state with 51 tunnel wash and self-service locations. Car washes are among the businesses allowed to resume operations in the initial phase of the state’s “Safe Start Washington” economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During its six-week closure, Brown Bear retained and maintained its payroll of over 350 employees.
“Despite all the uncertainly facing communities we serve during these challenging times, we’ve been proud to support our incredible team members so they could focus on staying safe and healthy with their families,” said Lance Odermat, Vice President, General Counsel Car Wash Enterprises, Inc.
Odermat said all the company’s car wash locations will resume with regular business hours, with automated tunnel wash locations opening at 8 a.m.
Brown Bear has implemented enhanced sanitation procedures, and the company is a national leader in automated car wash services, which minimize cash transactions at all its locations. In addition, members of Brown Bear’s Unlimited Wash Club have their vehicles washed at tunnel locations with no exchange of cash or credit card.
For tunnel wash and self service locations, and more information about Brown Bear Car Wash, visit www.brownbear.com.
Inslee announces three Safe Start advisory groups
Updated at 8:35 a.m.
Gov. Jay Inslee announced members of Safe Start advisory groups with focus on health systems and public health, social supports and economic readiness.
“These groups include a diverse group of voices, from community leaders in labor, business, government and nonprofit organizations,” Inslee said during a press conference Tuesday. “They represent a broad cross-section of Washingtonians from east and west of the Cascades, different generations and a focus on different impacts from the pandemic on our state.”
Each advisory group constitutes a forum for the community to consult with the governor’s office and state agencies on next steps as Washington moves forward. The members of these community leader groups are in touch with communities around the state and will inform decision-making.
The three community leader advisory groups will be led by state cabinet officials:
▪ Public Health and Health Care System led by Department of Health Sec. John Wiesman
▪ Safe Work and Economic Recovery led by Department of Commerce Director Lisa Brown
▪ Social Supports led by Department of Social and Health Services Sec. Cheryl Strange
These groups do not substitute for legislative involvement. Cabinet leads and the governor’s office staff will report out to the local elected officials and the legislature on the progress and status of the state’s efforts.
GOP lawmakers file federal lawsuit aimed at ending Inslee’s stay-at-home order
Updated at 8:35 a.m.
Four Republican state House members sued Gov. Jay Inslee in federal court on Tuesday, arguing that his stay-at-home order violates the U.S. Constitution and he should be barred from keeping it in place.
The lawsuit asserts that there is no longer an emergency in the state because of COVID-19. Inslee cited the state of emergency he declared on Feb. 29 as the authority for the stay-at-home order, the partial closure of businesses, and several other proclamations he signed to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
Filed in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, the lawsuit states: “Unfortunately, the Governor insists that he, and he alone, can determine whether an emergency exists. He claims that it’s an emergency if he says it’s an emergency, and that no one — not the legislature, and not the courts — can gainsay him. He claims that the emergency can continue as long as he thinks it continues, and no one but he can say otherwise.”
Inslee on Monday signed an extension of the stay-at-home order through May 31 to continue the state’s social distancing strategy. Businesses that have been closed because they were deemed “non-essential” in March will reopen in four phases that will last until at least mid July.
The lawsuit’s eight plaintiffs include GOP state Reps. Andrew Barkis of Olympia, Drew MacEwen of Union, Chris Corry of Yakima, and Brandon Vick of Vancouver. The others are residents around the state.
Inslee, at a press briefing, said the measures he’s taken were designed to “preserve health and life itself.”
“I think it would be a horrific surprise to the over 800 families that have lost a loved one already to this pandemic to think this is not a crisis. I believe that position is both biologically ignorant and humanly heartless,” he said.
Reached for comment, Barkis said Inslee made the right decision in declaring a state of emergency in February. Washington residents “proved that we could come together and get after this virus” and the data has shown success, Barkis added.
“The governor’s powers, when needed, were good and now they are not needed,” he said.
People holding coronavirus parties in southeast Washington
Updated at 8:35 a.m.
Some people are intentionally flouting health recommendations by exposing themselves and others to COVID-19 in Walla Walla County, officials said.
Meghan DeBolt, director of the county’s Department of Community Health, told the Union-Bulletin this week that contact tracing has revealed that some are attending parties with the idea that it is better to get sick with the virus and get it over with.
New positive test results in the county have resulted from such gatherings, she said.
“We ask about contacts, and there are 25 people because: ‘We were at a COVID party,’” DeBolt said.
She called the parties irresponsible and unacceptable.
Walla Walla Police Chief Scott Bieber noted that disobeying Gov. Jay Inslee’s March 23 “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order is illegal.
“We’re not going to overreact,” he said. “But we’re going to contact people who tested positive and follow up with a phone call, making them aware of the potential gross misdemeanor offense of disobeying the governor’s orders. If we find intentional violations, we will refer them to the city attorney.”
As of Monday, Walla Walla County has 94 residents, including some Tyson Fresh Meats employees, who have been diagnosed with COVID-19. One person has died of the disease, according to health officials.
National Forests in Washington plan for late May phased opening
Updated at 8:35 a.m.
The USDA Forest Service will maintain its alignment with state “Stay at Home” orders and the first phase of Washington state’s “Reopening of America” plan by conducting a comprehensive review of the agency’s developed recreation sites in Washington in the coming weeks.
The agency aims to lift select closures at many Washington national forest trailheads and developed recreation sites by late May.
Across most of the National Forests in Oregon and Washington, Forest Service roads, trails and dispersed areas and trails are open. Hunting and fishing are also allowed in undeveloped areas on National Forest lands in accordance with state laws and if the area isn’t affected by a closure order.
Forest supervisors and staff have begun assessing recreation areas and are planning how to safely reopen areas and facilities in a phased manner.
“Many of these sites have been closed all winter. There is pre-work we need to perform before we can open them,” said Glenn Casamassa, regional forester for the Pacific Northwest Region of the USDA Forest Service.
“Some work was delayed due to the operational challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. We want to take deliberate actions which consider community impacts and the safety of our employees and volunteers before we make the decision to reopen each location.”
When sites reopen, forest visitors should be prepared to be self-sufficient as possible, since services — including visitor centers, restrooms, and trash collection — will remain unavailable.
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 8:43 AM.
