Washington GOP lawmakers propose their version of a plan to reopen the state
In the absence of clear next steps for reopening Washington state from Gov. Jay Inslee, restless Republican state legislators have proposed their own.
The state’s current “Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery” plan consists of two phases and went into effect Jan. 11. The entire state is in Phase 2 and there’s a pause on any regions potentially backsliding.
Inslee’s office has said they’re working on future steps forward, monitoring developing science around variants and vaccines and gathering input from stakeholders.
Republican legislators, who hold a minority in both chambers of the state Legislature, have been calling for Phase 3 details for weeks. With COVID-19 metrics improving and considering risks to mental health and the economy, they say it’s time to offer a clear path to reopening, have local officials make calls, and trust people to make safe decisions.
“We need something to guide the way,” said Senate Minority Leader John Braun of Centralia. “And, in a vacuum created by the governor, we’re providing a plan.”
Their proposal would involve immediately requiring schools to open and boosting capacity at businesses to 50 percent. Counties would automatically reopen fully after three weeks. If a county’s health officials were to decide the county wasn’t ready to reopen at 100 percent, they would have to show why, based on key metrics such as hospital admission and case rates.
Sen. Sharon Brown, R-Kennewick, created the plan. In a press release, she said she started questioning the governor’s approach after a data-reporting error was discovered that nearly kept the south central region of the state in Phase 1 by mistake.
“Last month, our region dodged a bullet,” Brown said in a statement. “We were left out of Phase 2 because of alarmingly high hospitalization rates. It turned out to be a mistake, which was only identified thanks to the keen observations of county officials who caught the error and brought it to the attention of the Department of Health.”
In an emailed statement, the governor’s office dismissed the Republicans’ plan as “not a serious proposal.”
“We have to reopen and finish this out the same way we went into it: With the same caution and the same concern for saving as many Washingtonians’ lives as possible,” spokesperson Nick Streuli said at a press conference this week.
Rolling back restrictions runs counter to advice from public health officials.
The state’s COVID-19 metrics have improved steadily in recent weeks. Health Secretary Dr. Umair Shah said this week, though, that case rates still remain relatively high, even with the improvement. National public health officials have warned against rolling back public health measures as case counts level off and variants emerge.
“It is not the time to let our guard down,” Shah said this week. “We must continue to slow this spread of the virus.”
Over 1.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the state, and Inslee has laid out a tentative timeline predicting an expansion of who’s eligible within a few weeks. President Joe Biden has said he expects enough supply for anyone who wants a vaccine by the end of May.
On Inside Olympia this week, Dr. Shah did not commit to that timeline, saying he believes every American will have an opportunity to get a vaccine “by summer.”
The state Department of Health will review the Republicans’ proposal as part of its engagement process, according to Deputy Secretary Lacy Fehrenbach in a written statement.
“We, too, are eager to get more students into classrooms, help more businesses, allow for more activities, and continue on the Road to Recovery as we vaccinate more Washingtonians and continue mitigating the spread of COVID-19,” her statement reads. “DOH is actively engaged with local public health leaders and stakeholders from across the state and in coordination with the Governor’s Office on phased reopening. We will review this proposal as part of that process.”
But Inslee’s office asserted the Republicans’ proposal is “not a plan,” rather “political rhetoric with bullet points.”
Inslee has been traveling the state urging schools to reopen according to state guidelines with safety precautions in place. But, the statement reads, “the governor’s office does not have the constitutional authority to reopen schools.”
The improvement in metrics statewide is a testament to the current plan’s success, his office says, not an indication of its failure.
“This plan would undoubtedly lead to a rebound in COVID activity,” the statement reads. “More people would suffer as a result.”
The governors of Texas and Mississippi announced this week they are lifting mask mandates and other measures. That’s not model policy, Gov. Inslee said.
“We are not following the leadership of Texas on this, because we have saved, perhaps, 11,000 people by following science about what will protect our people, and we will continue to do that,” the governor said.
Shah, who took on his current role in Washington after serving as a local public health official in Texas, spoke to the difficulties faced in those situations.
“I’ll tell you, it is extremely difficult from a public health standpoint when all of our public health folks on the ground are trying to do everything they can, and then you start to see potentially peeling back of those exact strategies — from a state standpoint or overall population standpoint,” he said. “That makes it hard for people to protect community members.”
But Republicans have insisted their plan doesn’t follow in the steps of Texas and isn’t suggesting the state act as if the pandemic is over.
“If the governor doesn’t like our plan, he is more than welcome to offer one of his own,” Sen. Brown said in an emailed statement. “He had all of January and February to produce one. It’s what we have been waiting for patiently since the entire state reached Phase 2 on Feb. 14. What is his plan for Phase 3 and beyond? Does he even have one?”
This story was originally published March 6, 2021 at 5:45 AM.