Elective surgeries, dental services can resume, Inslee announces

Elective surgeries and dental services can resume as long as providers comply with health and safety protocols to guard against COVID-19, Gov. Jay Inslee announced on Monday.

The governor called the move an important step in helping Washington residents maintain their health as the state gradually reopens.

The restrictions on elective surgeries and dental services had been in effect since March 19 to ensure that health care workers had enough personal protective equipment.

“We’ve managed the peak of the COVID-19 assault without having our hospitals or our medical systems absolutely overrun,” Inslee said at a press conference Monday.

The state is requiring practitioners to:

• Have appropriate personal protective equipment for employees.
• Implement social distancing and strong hygiene measures within their offices and hospitals
• Screen patients and visitors for symptoms.
• Use their clinical judgment for what is considered necessary, using telemedicine when appropriate.
• Implement policies to protect workers and seek their feedback.

“If they cannot procure [personal protective equipment], then they’ll have to delay until that is satisfied,” Inslee said.

Sally Watkins, executive director of the Washington State Nurses Association, said the group remains concerned about the limited availability, cleaning procedures and reuse of surgical masks, N95 respirators, and face shields.

“We’ve had nurses laid off or furloughed and are eager to see them to be able to return to work, but we want them to do so safely with the right amount of [personal protective equipment] and other supplies,” she said.

Also, Inslee said if a region of the state has an outbreak of COVID-19, hospitals need to be ready to handle the demand for hospital beds, staff, and ventilators.

With Monday’s announcement, the state is also distributing a “frequently asked questions” memo that includes: “You won’t allow me to get a haircut, but you’ll allow a dental hygienist to dig around in my mouth?”

The answer from the state is: “Our health providers are among the most committed to protecting the public’s health. We believe that, if all health and safety procedures are followed, they can safely resume providing important health and wellness services.

“Additional protocols such as limited numbers of people in waiting areas, physical distancing, temperature checks and more are important for protecting both healthcare workers and patients,” the memo states.

The governor’s office said in areas with high rates of COVID-19, state or local public health officials may decide some health care services must be reduced or closed.

In response to questions from reporters, Inslee tackled several topics.

* The Freedom Foundation, an Olympia-based free-market think tank, said Monday that the state’s reported COVID-19 death total is inflated by as much as 13 percent because of its practice of counting every person who tests positive for COVID-19 and subsequently dies, even if the death was not caused by COVID-19.

Inslee said he has “confidence in the numbers we have put forward,” which was 1,002 deaths as of late Sunday.

“I guess they’re saying `that would make it 887 dead. That’s OK, and we should not act responsibility if there’s only 887 people instead of a thousand people.’ I’m not sure I understand that logic. I don’t think anybody does understand it who knows any of these families that lost a loved one,” he said.

* On Friday afternoon, Inslee confirmed that the state will ask visitors to voluntarily provide their name and contact information when restaurants reopen with limited dining capacity. The original guidance memo said the information would be required, which triggered privacy concerns from some.

“We just figured we’re going to get enough compliance voluntarily not to be worth it having disagreements at the reservation counter,” he said Monday.

* Inslee said he’d make a final decision on whether the entire state moves to phase 2 of his four-phased approach in the days before it’s set to begin on June 1.

Phase 2 includes limited in-store retail business with certain restrictions. They include a minimum 6-foot physical distancing between customers, cashiers and other staff except when collecting payments and/or exchanging goods.

“We want to have the right data. If we had enough data four days before to allow that to go to June 1st, we’d certainly announce it. If we knew we weren’t going, we’d announce that as well.

“We know people are frustrated by this. We know people are so anxious; the people who have lost their jobs because of this, the people whose small businesses are in question, the people who are trying to telecommute and has a beautiful two-year-old pulling on your leg when you’re trying to do business,” he said.

This story was originally published May 18, 2020 at 2:30 PM.