Gov. Jay Inslee speaks to the media Thursday, Aug. 20.
Gov. Jay Inslee had some good news about Washington state’s fight against COVID-19, pointing to positive trends showing current efforts are working, though the end currently remains out of sight.
In a press conference Thursday, Aug. 20, the governor pointed to a decline in diagnosed cases in the past two weeks as well as a metric that illustrates how the disease spreads that is moving closer to the state’s target. He brought up that positivity rates of testing have been in decline in the past few weeks while state data showed a similar amount of total tests administered in that time period.
Inslee also said that the statewide reproductive number for COVID-19 was “about one,” meaning on average each infection leads to one additional case as the disease spreads. The governor said that the number would have to be “significantly lower than one” in order to have the statewide outbreaks lower than pandemic levels.
Inslee said he was “cautiously pleased” with the apparent trends, though the potential of easing restrictions remained out of reach.
“We are so far away from success on this that we have to remain incredibly diligent,” Inslee said. Data showed that statewide the new infection rate in the past 14 days was 110 per 100,000 of population, which was more than four times the target of 25 per 100,000.
Inslee said that numbers in Central Washington in particular remained troubling, though he added there was good news in some places like Yakima County. He reasoned some of their improvement was due to early efforts to get residents to wear facial coverings.
“This is really encouraging for the rest of the state, that we had one county demonstrate a significant decline associated with a strong masking-up campaign,” Inlsee remarked.
Washington State Secretary of Health John Wiesman addressed a lack of performance metrics on contact tracing, which has been a statewide follow-up effort on those with confirmed cases. The problems remain similar to what Wiesman indicated last month, with individuals not returning calls after being contacted. The success of efforts to contact individuals within 24 hours of a positive test can vary from 30 percent to 100 person at a given time for that reason, the health secretary said,
Inslee added that any contact tracing issues were not due to lack of trained workers administering the tracing procedures. In some cases the state has provided resources through staffing or funding to help efforts at local health districts.
Inslee thanked business leaders across the state for “tremendously adhering” to mask mandates for their operations. He said that reducing the reproductive number primarily rested on individuals continuing to have close contact in social settings, using Washingtonians to be “a protector instead of an infector.”
“We still have thousands of infections that are occurring because people are enjoying the company of their families and their drinking buddies and their dates,” Inslee said. “We just need to buckle down and have less physical interaction, particularly in our social settings.”
Inslee backs lawsuit against Trump administration on Postal Service changes
During the press conference Inslee also addressed a federal lawsuit filed earlier this week, which he put his support behind.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is leading a coalition of states challenging changes at the U.S. Postal Service that opponents say could threaten critical mail delivery and could undermine the national election in November.
The Postal Service cuts, including eliminating staff overtime, halting outgoing mail processing at state distribution centers and removing critical mail sorting equipment, threaten the timely delivery of mail to millions of Americans who rely on the Postal Service for everything from medical prescriptions to ballots, a news release from Ferguson’s Office stated.
In Washington, the Postmaster General is implementing plans to stop processing outgoing mail at three of the state’s five distribution centers: those in Wenatchee, Yakima and Tacoma. Ferguson argues this will result in mail delays that will impact Washingtonians who rely on the Postal Service for prescriptions and Social Security payments as well as voting by mail.
This means mail sent from one address to another in the same town would have to travel all the way to one of the remaining distribution centers and back again before being delivered. For example, a letter sent from Yakima to a location across town will be sent all the way to Spokane for processing and then back to Yakima.
“For partisan gain, President Trump is attempting to destroy a critical institution that is essential for millions of Americans,” Ferguson said. “We rely on the Postal Service for our Social Security benefits, prescriptions — and exercising our right to vote. Our coalition will fight to protect the Postal Service and uphold the rule of law in federal court.”
Ferguson’s lawsuit asserts that the Postmaster General implemented these drastic changes to mail service unlawfully, and seeks to stop the service reductions.
At the press conference, Inslee called the changes a “very clear, brazen, unambiguous effort by Donald Trump to suppress the vote,” Inslee said, adding the president “has effectively confessed to that himself.”
Outside of effects on elections, Inslee noted other instances where Washingtonians relied on an effective postal service, such as mailed medications.
Inslee said a court decision would require the president’s administration to take action to address the post office issues, adding that simple promises from Trump “are not exactly credible.”
Inslee said USPS workers had expressed concern over a lack of a plan to fix the machines, while management said there was “intent” to fix them.
“We need to have a judicial decree ordering them to fix these machines,” Inslee said. “Until we get that, we will be appropriately skeptical.”
Inslee said he was considering what sort of executive action he could take to ensure smooth elections, though nothing had been decided as of the press conference, adding that what comes out of the lawsuit could determine any further steps.
“You can be assured that we’re going to do everything humanly possible to guarantee that right to vote in an expeditious manner,” Inslee remarked.
