Coronavirus updates: Inslee extends truck driver proclamation; Pierce County reaches 2,160 cases
This page includes coronavirus developments around Washington state for Tuesday, June 16.
Updated at 3:20 p.m.
Pierce County reported 26 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and no additional deaths.
The county’s totals are now 2,160 cases and 83 deaths since the first case was reported March 6.
Among those with more cases, Tacoma on Tuesday was listed with 11 new cases, and Lakewood was listed with four.
State officials this week have implored residents to wear face masks when around others in public.
Pierce County had 195 new cases in the past 14 days, an average of 13.9 new cases each day. There have been 21.6 new cases per 100,000 residents during the past 14 days, the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department website says.
As of Tuesday, the county reported an estimated 347 still-active cases.
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.
There have been 34,484 tests for the coronavirus conducted in the county with positive results at 6.2 percent, according to the state Department of Health.
That total does not include negative tests from long-term care facilities or the 97,429 tests not yet assigned to a county.
Testing is available at various sites in the county. For more information, go to tpchd.org/healthy-people/diseases/covid-19/testing-information.
Tuesday’s geographical case totals are listed below with Monday’s totals in parentheses:
▪ Bonney Lake: 48 (no change)
▪ Central Pierce County: 150 (149)
▪ East Pierce County: 59 (60)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 99 (98)
▪ Frederickson: 70 (no change)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 56 (no change)
▪ Graham: 70 (no change)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 9 (8)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 56 (no change)
▪ Lakewood: 223 (219)
▪ Parkland: 129 (no change)
▪ Puyallup: 155 (153)
▪ South Hill: 109 (108)
▪ South Pierce County: 42 (40)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 23 (22)
▪ Spanaway: 70 (no change)
▪ Tacoma: 699 (688)
▪ University Place: 81 (no change)
▪ Unknown: 12 (no change)
Daily reports include cases received by 11:59 p.m. the previous day.
Pierce County Transit hopes to roll out service package in September
Updated at 11:20 a.m.
According to Pierce Transit spokesperson Rebecca Japhet, in September the agency hopes to roll out a service package that would cut service by 10% compared with where things stood in March, before the coronavirus crisis hit.
It’s a forecast buoyed by optimism, Japhet acknowledged. At the same time, all public transportation cuts hurt, and even just a 10% reduction — if Pierce Transit can limit it to that — would mean a loss of 50,000 service hours. Pierce Transit would go from roughly 500,000 service hours before the coronavirus to 450,000 in September.
“Ten percent is not as bad as we anticipated, but that doesn’t matter to the individual who lost their route,” said Tacoma City Council member Kristina Walker, who also serves as executive director of the transportation advocacy nonprofit, Downtown on the Go.
Lessening the blow, at least in the short term, the agency received more than $20 million in emergency funding from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act — or CARES Act — which is helping to offset the losses, Japhet said.
Otherwise, it could have been worse.
“The real question mark will come in 2021,” Japhet warned. “In 2021, we don’t know if additional federal funds will be available, and we don’t know what our local economy — and related sales tax, which provides the majority of our funding — will look like.”
As The News Tribune has previously reported, Pierce Transit’s current budget outlook is certainly concerning. The agency’s revenue projections for 2020 foresee up to a $47 million loss — due to a pandemic-related loss of ridership and sales tax revenue.
Sales tax alone makes up about 60% of the budget, according to the agency, and those collections are expected to fall by roughly $28 million this year.
“Nobody really saw it coming, as far as what the impact was going to be. It’s like we fell off a cliff, as far as our revenue” said Brett Freshwaters, Pierce Transit’s executive director of finance, of the challenge presented by the coronavirus crisis.
Already Pierce Transit has been forced to make quick, drastic changes that have undoubtedly affected people’s lives. In the weeks after the pandemic took hold, service was cut by 38% compared with pre-COVID-19 levels. In late May, some of that was restored — though the agency is still operating at a 20% reduction.
At the same time, ridership has plunged. On weekdays, there are now about half as many riders as there were before the coronavirus changed everything.
Japhet stressed that the projected 10% service reduction for September is just that — a projection.
Pierce Transit, she said, “won’t know for sure until we get recent sales tax figures, which we expect later this summer.”
“If projections do not hold, we may need to make adjustments to the September service levels,” Japhet cautioned.
Inslee extends proclamation on truck driver hours
Updated at 9 a.m.
Gov. Jay Inslee announced the extension of one proclamation in response to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. This proclamation extends the state waiver of truck driver hours restrictions through July 14.
The original proclamation waived/suspended the restrictions on truck driver hours through April 17, and was later renewed through June 14.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has extended the federal restrictions through July 14. After consulting with the state’s Emergency Management Division, an extension of the state’s waiver of these rules continues to be needed.
Read the full proclamation here.
Pacific County approved to move to Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Safe Start plan
Updated at 9 a.m.
Washington State Secretary of Health John Wiesman approved Pacific County to move into Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Safe Start plan.
A total of three counties are in Phase 1, three counties are in a modified version of Phase 1, 22 counties are in Phase 2 and 11 counties are in Phase 3.
Grays Harbor and Lewis counties applied to move from Phase 2 to Phase 3, and King County applied to move from modified Phase 1 to Phase 2. Their applications are under review. Benton and Franklin counties applied to move from Phase 1 to Phase 2, and their applications are currently on pause. The department will meet with local officials later this week to discuss next steps.
Businesses approved to move into a new phase must comply with all health and safety requirements outlined in the guidance to reopen.
On May 29, Governor Jay Inslee, in collaboration with the Washington State Department of Health, established a data-driven approach to reopen Washington and modify social and recreational activities while minimizing the health impacts of COVID-19. Washington will move through the phased reopening county-by-county, allowing for flexibility and local control to address COVID-19 activity geographically.
This approach reduces the risk of COVID-19 to Washington’s most vulnerable populations and preserves capacity in our health care system, while safely opening up businesses and resuming gatherings, travel, shopping and recreation. The plan allows counties and the secretary of health to holistically review COVID-19 activity and the ability for the county to respond when determining if a county is ready to move into a new phase.
King County applies for Phase 2 of Safe Start recovery plan
Updated at 9 a.m.
King County Executive Dow Constantine and King County Council Chair Claudia Balducci submitted an application to the state Department of Health to move King County to Phase 2 of the Safe Start recovery plan following approval of the plan by the King County Board of Health.
“After two weeks in what has been called Phase 1.5, our case counts, health care system capacity and other metrics are holding steady, and we are ready to move to Phase 2,” said Executive Constantine.
“But make no mistake – successful economic recovery will depend on everyone in King County carefully following the recommendations of our Public Health experts, including wearing face coverings and avoiding unnecessary contacts, so together we can keep re-opening our community while holding the line on the pandemic.”
Under Phase 2, businesses can operate at twice the indoor capacity permitted in the modified Phase 1, provided they meet all re-opening requirements set out by the state’s guidance.
Department of Commerce begins accepting applications for Child Care Partnership grant program
Updated at 9 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Commerce is now accepting applications for the first round of a new Child Care Partnership Grant Program.
More than 1,100 child care centers have temporarily closed since March due to the coronavirus pandemic, bringing an existing crisis of scarcity to a head. Even before COVID-19 and the ensuing financial crisis, many working parents in Washington were either paying more than they could afford, or struggling to even find quality child care facilities and programs near where they live or work.
Disparities in access to child care are even more pronounced and damaging in economically disadvantaged communities and communities of color. The first round of applications is due by June 30, 2021. You can find more information here and application materials here.
More people need to wear face coverings in public, state says
Updated at 9 a.m.
Washington state officials on Monday urged people to wear masks or face coverings when they’re in public, expressing concern that counties might not be able to move forward – and could fall backwards – under Gov. Jay Inslee’s four-phase plan to reopen the rest of the state’s economy.
The state controlled the spread of COVID-19 by social distancing, the stay-at-home order, handwashing, masks and face coverings, said Dr. Scott Lindquist, state epidemiologist for communicable diseases in the state Department of Health.
But as more businesses and activities reopen, that progress is in jeopardy, he said at a press briefing.
“You want a haircut? Wear a mask. You are not going to enjoy these freedoms in our phases until we can demonstrate that we can control this. I hope we do not go backwards, but that is a concern,” Lindquist said.
Barber shops and hair salons open in Phase 2 of the plan. Franklin, Benton, and Yakima are the only counties in still in Phase 1. Three counties are in a modified version of phase 1 that includes some activities in phase 2, 22 counties are in Phase 2 including Pierce, Thurston and Whatcom; and 11 counties are in Phase 3.
Officials stopped short of saying that the wearing of masks or face coverings by people in public should be mandatory. On June 8, a statewide requirement took effect that workers who interact with customers and other workers must wear face coverings.
“If you mask up in the workplace but people don’t mask up when they’re out shopping ... then we’re really not doing everything we can to stop community spread,” said Anne Soiza, an assistant director in the state Department of Labor & Industries.
There had been 26,158 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Washington and 1,221 deaths as of Monday, according to data from the state Department of Health.
This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 9:14 AM.
