Pierce County gets ‘gut punch’ rollback to Phase 2, seeking options to help businesses
Pierce County is one of three counties moving back to Phase 2 as a result of the next round of Roadmap to Recovery metrics issued Monday by the state Department of Health.
Pierce was the only Puget Sound-region county to roll back. It joined Cowlitz and Whitman in moving to Phase 2 because of missing both metrics established for the state’s reopening plan.
Braced for the news, Pierce County on Monday was looking to provide relief to those impacted by the rollback, including restaurants, retailers and gyms.
The Pierce County Council is expected to pass a bill that would provide $4 million in grants to small businesses and nonprofit organizations.
“This is gonna be a gut punch. So we want to try to see if we can keep (the businesses) going as we continue to roll vaccination out and push down those case counts,” Chairman Derek Young (D-Gig Harbor) said in Monday’s Pierce County Council study session.
The amount of funding could change before council passes the relief, council spokesperson Brynn Grimley said in an email.
Details have yet to be released, but Economic Development director Betty Capestany told the council the grants are flexible and could be used to pay rent, employees or other costs.
“I think the plan is we want to be sure to get cash to those that need it most but without strings,” she said.
Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards said in a statement on Monday that the news “is disappointing” and will have “notable impacts on the community and local businesses.”
“I understand that this decision is based in data, and we have the power to change the outcomes in our community before the next evaluation,” Woodards said in her statement. “To be successful, we must remember that we are a resilient community. We have changed the tide on COVID-19 cases before in Pierce County, and we must believe that we can do it again. While I hope everyone eligible will continue to get vaccinated, we also need to be diligent in masking up, social distancing, and following state guidelines if we are going to slow the spread.”
On April 9, the city of Tacoma opened the second round of its Resiliency Grant Program in an effort to mitigate the economic impacts of COVID-19 on small businesses. Fifty micro businesses, defined as having five or fewer employees, are eligible for $10,000 grants to cover payroll, inventory, rent or utilities. Businesses must be located within Tacoma city limits and have been operating for at least a year as of March 16, 2020. The majority owner must have a household income of no more than 80 percent of area median income and they must be able demonstrate that they have experienced a loss of income due to COVID-19.
The change to Phase 2 takes effect Friday, meaning businesses including restaurants, gyms, retail stores and movie theaters must reduce capacity from 50 percent to 25 percent occupancy, among other rules.
In new guidance announced by Gov. Jay Inslee on April 9, counties can miss one of two metrics and retain their current phase status. If they miss both, they backslide, and must meet both metrics to move up.
The metrics are:
▪ Fewer than 200 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks
▪ Fewer than five new hospitalizations per 100,000 over one week.
Additionally, if the statewide intensive care unit capacity reaches greater than 90 percent, all counties will revert to Phase 1.
According to the latest metrics released Monday by DOH, Pierce County showed 267.9 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks, and 6.4 new hospitalizations per 100,000 over one week.
The time period measured for case rates was March 20-April 2. For hospitalizations: March 24-30.
Monday afternoon, Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah reiterated the rollbacks were necessary to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and mitigate a fourth wave.
““When we see increased rates of cases and hospitalizations, we need to act fast and do the right thing county-by-county to prevent more serious consequences from COVID-19 in our state. That is why the tough decisions are being made and some counties are being moved back to Phase 2,” he said in a statement.
The county last week was braced for moving back to Phase 2 after experiencing rising COVID-19 case numbers since mid-March.
The concerns prompted local officials including the county executive and Tacoma’s mayor to send a letter on Friday to Inslee and legislative leaders. They sought a delay in measuring metrics until early in May, citing, among other things, viral spread not tied to businesses such as social gatherings including the Easter holiday, and a mix-up that led to reduced vaccine allocations from the state.
The officials also questioned “discrepancies in data.”
Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber President and CEO Tom Pierson, one of those who signed Friday’s letter, was attending a vaccine promotion for grocery workers in Tacoma when contacted by The News Tribune.
“This is the wrong approach,” he said to the rollback.
“So we had a little bit of a spike in cases, hospitalizations, and it’s actually trending back down, and it’s based upon spring, it’s based on some spring breaks, Easter, all those things. It’s based on social gatherings, it’s not based on what business is doing, and you’re penalizing business, and it’s hurting people who have jobs. They’re going to lose jobs; It’s going to add to unemployment.“
He noted he’d not heard from any of the officials who received Friday’s letter, and continued to dispute the numbers used in the metrics and the timing of measurements compared with how the county is doing now.
On Saturday, the state DOH noted on the Roadmap metrics page that it had “identified an error in some county-level hospitalization rates. We are investigating the issue and expect to have an update on Monday April 12.”
The issue appeared not to affect Pierce County’s results.
On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Chen, director of health for the health department, responded to Friday’s letter in an emailed statement to The News Tribune: “Today, we are working with 50 businesses and churches and almost 20 schools with positive cases. The high community spread is hurting our business owners, students, and residents.
On Monday, Chen said in a statement: “This rollback is disappointing, but we know what we must do to reduce disease spread and open up more of our economy.
“We are seeing more cases in small and informal gatherings. I know everyone is eager to get back to doing what they love, but we cannot let our guard down and allow the pandemic to come roaring back.”
On April 7, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department officials warned during a Board of Health meeting the county was seeing rising cases, and noted even with the mistakenly reduced vaccine allocation, the missed doses were not enough to make up for the current community spread of COVID-19.
The state DOH’s situation report of April 7 warned, “In four of the five largest counties (Clark, King, Pierce, Snohomish) case counts have begun to increase.“
Pierce ultimately was the only one among that group to lose its hold on to Phase 3.
The next evaluation of counties will be in three weeks on May 3.
This story was originally published April 12, 2021 at 1:43 PM.
