Coronavirus updates: Inslee announces contact tracing initiative
This page includes coronavirus developments around Washington state for Wednesday, May 13.
Updated at 5:45 p.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Wednesday reported 182 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 13 additional deaths.
Statewide totals are now at 17,512 cases and 975 deaths, up from 17,330 cases and 962 deaths on Tuesday.
Pierce County reported five new cases but no new deaths on Wednesday.
King County continues to have the highest numbers with 7,212 cases and 518 deaths. Snohomish County has 2,720 cases and 121 deaths.
Washington’s least populous county, Garfield, remains the only county in the state without a case. Eight other counties are reporting less than 10 cases each.
Washington state has now conducted 243,568 tests with 7 percent coming back positive.
There have been 1,388,936 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 83,791 deaths from the virus in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University.
Pierce County shows smallest rise in new cases since April 11
Updated at 5:45 p.m.
Pierce County on Wednesday reported just five new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths.
It’s the first time the county has seen fewer than 10 new cases in one day since April 11 when 9 new cases were reported.
The county now has a total of 1,730 cases and 63 deaths, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
The county’s COVID-19 tracking page lists the number of assumed recovered cases as 972 with estimated still-active confirmed cases at 758.
Daily case totals can change as the county receives new information about cases, finds duplicate data or is assigned cases originally attributed to other counties.
According to the state Department of Health’s COVID-19 data dashboard, there have been 18,954 coronavirus tests run on Pierce County residents with 8.4 percent of them positive.
On Wednesday, the county health department noted that the testing numbers “don’t include negative tests from long-term care facilities or tests not yet assigned to a county.”
It also reported that as of Wednesday, 295 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pierce County are health care workers.
It did not provide an update on the number of cases at care facilities listed from last week’s totals.
Wednesday’s geographical totals are listed below with Tuesday’s numbers in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 40 (no change)
▪ Central Pierce County: 127 (no change)
▪ East Pierce County: 48 (no change)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 83 (no change)
▪ Frederickson: 59 (no change)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 52 (51)
▪ Graham: 52 (no change)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 7 (no change)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 42 (no change)
▪ Lakewood: 181 (no change)
▪ Parkland: 94 (93)
▪ Puyallup: 120 (no change)
▪ South Hill: 94 (no change)
▪ South Pierce County: 37 (no change)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 21 (no change)
▪ Spanaway: 58 (57)
▪ Tacoma: 557 (555)
▪ University Place: 51 (no change)
▪ Unknown: 7 (no change)
Daily reports include cases received by 11:59 p.m. the previous day.
Inslee orders hiring freeze
Updated at 1:45 p.m.
Faced with a potential massive revenue decline because of COVID-19, Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday directed all agencies under his control to freeze most hiring, personal service contracts and equipment purchases.
“The full impact is unknown, but the state’s revenue situation warrants immediate fiscal restraint,” Inslee said in a memo to executive and cabinet agencies.
Inslee also asked higher education institutions, boards and commissions, and other statewide elected officials to impose similar restrictions.
An unofficial revenue forecast earlier this month said the state could face a reduction in projected state revenues of $7 billion through mid-2023 due to the new coronavirus pandemic. The official quarterly forecast is set to be released June 17 by the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council.
In a memo to agency heads, the Office of Financial Management directed them to identify savings in the budget that begins July 1. The target for spending reduction is $1.9 billion, wrote the agency’s director, David Schumacher.
The directive issued by Inslee takes effect Monday. The hiring freeze does not cover positions that:
- directly impact public safety.
- are essential to the health and welfare activities of state government.
- generate revenue.
- are required to meet statutory mandates.
- are related to the state’s response to the pandemic.
The freeze on personal services contracts does not include contracts, contract amendments, or other agreements related to:
- the protection of life or public safety.
- tax collection or other revenue-generating activities.
- those funded exclusively from private or federal funding sources.
- approved information technology projects.
- other essential categories included in guidelines established by the Office of Financial Management.
The freeze on equipment purchases does not apply to equipment.
- costing less than $5,000.
- necessary to protect life or public safety.
- funded by private or federal grants.
Inslee has said it’s probable that he will call the Legislature into a special session, but has not indicated when. The current fiscal year ends June 30, and the Legislature’s next regularly-scheduled session begins in January.
Tacoma Ocean Fest postponed
Updated at 9:55 a.m.
Tacoma Ocean Fest, a one-day free festival originally set to take place June 7, has been postponed to Sept. 13.
The one-day, free festival on Tacoma’s waterfront is held to celebrate World Ocean weekend.
It now has turned to online workshops to fill the void.
One such event is a series of film workshops over Zoom led by Chhay Mam, lead instructor at the non-profit Create Films, which will take place over the next several weeks.
“It’s just a film class for Ocean Fest kids who want to make the videos,” Mam said. “We’re just going to give them some information about where they can get royalty free music, royalty free images, royalty free video, and give them some ideas.
“Our main focus is to get kids to understand visual storytelling.”
The dates of Mam’s workshops are May 13, May 20 and May 27 all at 3pm. Sign-ups can be done online or by emailing at info@createfilms.org.
There also is an ocean science workshop to be led by marine biologist Emily Pinckney, which will take place on May 14.
Inslee announces contact tracing initiative
Updated at 8:40 a.m.
Gov. Jay Inslee announced the launch of a statewide contact tracing plan that will allow more businesses to open and more people to be active in public while helping to slow and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Local health departments will lead these efforts and the state Department of Health and its partners will support this work.
When someone tests positive for COVID-19, an interviewer will reach out by phone. They will ask who that person has been in close contact with, then reach out to those other people to let them know they have been exposed. Those people would need to isolate or quarantine themselves. This plan involves contacting people within 24 hours of a positive test result and talking to their close contacts within 48 hours.
The information collected is only used by public health professionals and is confidential. It will not be shared. Contacts will not be told the name of the person who may have exposed them to COVID-19. These professional interviewers will ask about symptoms, recent exposure and demographic questions such as age, address, gender and ethnicity.
During the governor’s press conference, he announced that the statewide contact tracing team will be trained and in place by May 15.
Inslee issues guidance for limited in-store retail, manufacturing in phase 2
Updated at 8:40 a.m.
Gov. Jay Inslee has released a list of requirements for resuming limited in-store retail business under Phase 2 of his plan to reopen the remainder of Washington’s economy.
The guidance memo says in-store purchases will be allowed with restrictions including physical distancing such as 6-foot separations between registers, proper hygiene, and screening employees for symptoms.
Other requirements are:
▪ Guest occupancy must be 30% of maximum building occupancy or lower as determined by the fire code. This limit does not include employees in the calculation.
▪ Place distance markers outside of the facility in order to maintain six-foot physical distancing requirements for customers waiting to enter. Assign employees to assist and monitor customers waiting to enter.
▪ Arrange the flow of customers to eliminate choke points and reduce crowding. Mark high traffic areas with six-foot markers to maintain physical distancing requirements.
▪ Frequently sanitize additional high-touch areas including customer restrooms, fitting rooms, doors, check-out counters, and other areas like shopping cart handles.
If the requirements are met, department stores, sporting-good stores, boutique stores and warehouse-style stores that serve other retail operations and public can reopen.
Pierce Transit furloughs, lays off employees amid revenue declines during coronavirus
Updated at 8:40 a.m.
Pierce Transit will lay off or furlough nearly 90 employees, including some bus drivers, this week as a result of the coronavirus’ financial impact on the agency.
Agency officials decided last week that 63 employees in administration and operations and maintenance would receive furloughs. Twenty-five relief bus drivers will be laid off.
Pierce Transit’s projected revenue is expected to see a $47 million cut — about one-fourth of the total budget — due to the coronavirus pandemic, spokesperson Rebecca Japhet told The News Tribune on Tuesday. Ridership is down 38 percent.
Japhet said most of the furloughs were taken voluntarily, and Pierce Transit will cover employees’ insurance during furloughs.
“The purpose of these furloughs is to reduce staffing through this time and be able to begin bringing folks back on when service is increased again, or if needed,” she said.
The furloughs vary from eight weeks to 17 weeks depending on position.
A relief drivers laid off filled in for regular drivers sick or on vacation. Pierce Transit is providing two months of health care and call-back rights when the agency begins hiring again, Japhet said.
Washington state reports 208 new COVID-19 cases and 17 deaths Tuesday
Updated at 8:40 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Health on Tuesday reported 208 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 17 additional deaths.
Statewide totals are now at 17,330 cases and 962 deaths, up from 17,122 cases and 945 deaths on Monday.
Pierce County reported pandemic totals of 1,725 cases and 63 deaths on Tuesday.
King County continues to have the highest numbers with 7,137 cases and 513 deaths. Snohomish County has 2,711 cases and 121 deaths.
Washington’s least populous county, Garfield, remains the only county in the state without a case. Eight other counties are reporting cases in the single digits.
Washington state has now conducted 256,321 tests with 6.8 percent coming back positive.
People in the 40-59 age group make up 34 percent of the cases. People in the 20-39 are 30 percent of the cases. The 60-79 age group are 22 percent of the cases. Those who are age 80 and older make up 9 percent of the cases with age 19 and younger coming in at 5 percent of the cases.
Females account for 52 percent of COVID-19 cases. Males are 45 percent and 2 percent are unknown.
Farmers to give away 200,000 pounds of potatoes at Tacoma Dome on Thursday
Updated at 8:40 a.m.
Farmers in Washington state will give away more than 200,000 pounds of potatoes at the Tacoma Dome on Thursday as part of a mission to get 1 million pounds of potatoes into the hands of people in need.
The potatoes were meant to be sold to restaurants and other food service establishments, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“With so many restaurants closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, our potato farmers have storages full of these potatoes that were scheduled to be turned into french fries, tater tots, hash browns and many other frozen potato products,” a group of Washington state potato farmers said in a press release Monday. “Our farmers and their families recognize that they are not the only ones suffering financially, and they have the potatoes in their storage sheds that can feed so many.”
The event will be first come, first served and will start at 11 a.m. at the Tacoma Dome G and F parking lots.
The Washington State Potato Commission has coordinated with local volunteers at the Tacoma Dome, the City of Tacoma, and Emergency Food Network to help hand out the bags of potatoes. Bags will be loaded into vehicles.
Local food banks can pick up pallets of potatoes by calling the Potato Commission at 509-765-8845 or emailing office@potatoes.com.
Report: UW Medicine sees $500 million shortfall due to virus
Updated at 8:40 a.m.
UW Medicine, the Seattle-area health care system which has played a leading role in responding to the coronavirus outbreak, is now facing a huge financial hole because of the fallout from COVID-19.
The Seattle Times reports UW Medicine’s losses could be more than $500 million by the end of the summer. That’s according to an email Monday from UW Medicine CEO Dr. Paul Ramsey that was obtained by the newspaper. Ramsey wrote that staff cuts, furloughs, hiring restrictions and a pay cut for senior leadership could all be implemented.
“The impact on UW Medicine is an extreme threat to our financial stability,” wrote Ramsey, who oversees a system that includes the University of Washington’s medical school, University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC), Harborview Medical Center and Valley Regional Medical Center.
Ramsey said the system is facing the huge shortfall because less money is coming in because of things like non-emergency procedures being canceled and new expenses due to obtaining personal protective equipment and COVID-19 testing.
UW Medicine’s total budget for fiscal year 2020 was $5.8 billion.
Ramsey wrote that UW Medicine will try to have some of its losses covered by federal and state programs, including FEMA, the CARES Act and the Medicare advance payment program. It will also pursue philanthropic donations.
Ramsey and other system executives will host town hall-style meetings with faculty and staff this week to discuss the situation.
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 8:45 AM.
