Inslee says to ‘wear a mask, Washington’

In an effort to get more Washingtonians wearing facial coverings in public while the state reopens its businesses and gatherings, Gov. Jay Inslee has announced a new “Wear a Mask Washington” initiative set on moving people to take part to prevent a resurgence in COVID-19 cases.

During a press conference Wednesday, June 10, the governor announced the initiative, which features a social media campaign intended to raise awareness on wearing a mask. The governor said the initiative was important based on findings he said showed areas hit harder by COVID-19 spread were places with less use of masks in public.

“It’s clear now that wearing a facial covering is one of the easiest and most effective things we can do to protect people — our loved ones, our neighbors, our co-workers, our fellow shoppers — from this deadly virus,” Inslee said.

He added the more Washingtonians wearing masks could also lead to faster reopening of businesses, outside of the strictly health-related benefits.

Inslee said the initiative was a partnership with Restart Partners, a nonprofit that collaborates with state and local governments to help push the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in those jurisdictions. As part of the initiative, he asked Washingtonians to make videos of themselves answering “why do you wear a mask” and posting them to social media with the hashtag #wearamaskwa.

Inslee said he looked forward to seeing what Washingtonians would come up with for their videos, calling Washington “the most creative state in the United States.”

“Any state that gave us Jimi Hendrix can give us great videos in this regard,” Inslee said.

Apart from the new initiative, Inslee spoke about the state’s broader efforts in securing PPE as social interactions and businesses continue again in some parts of the state.

Inslee said that China-based BYD received final certification on their production of N95 respirator masks, a type of PPE that had been “all but impossible to obtain” at the levels needed since the COVID-19 crisis began, adding that the state had 5 million of the masks “on-hand” with another 50 million on order from the company.

Inslee said that entities eligible to receive PPE through the state’s emergency system included homeless shelters, long-term care facilities, hospitals, first responders, childcare facilities and “congregate settings with confirmed COVID patients,” asking eligible entities to submit requests to local emergency management authorities for assistance.

Inslee said that in recent weeks the state has been able to fulfil requests “for most all of these (PPE) items,” noting statewide efforts to secure supplies. He mentioned he hosted a summit with more than a dozen Washington-based manufacturers to discuss building an in-state supply system for PPE recently, adding the day prior to the conference he spoke to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn about ensuring review of masks made in-state by Outdoor Research, which generally makes outdoor gear and apparel.

Inslee said that relying on federal support had been hindered by what he said was a presidential administration that “has remained unable and unwilling” to develop a national manufacturing base for PPE. The governor said he had made a renewed request to Vice President Mike Pence to use the Defense Production Act to divert resources to producing the equipment.

Inslee said only the president had the authority to “compel” the commercial industry to produce PPE, leaving governors across the U.S. competing for what stocks were available.

Washington has received some federal support in getting PPE, as the governor said the state had received close to 4 million items of PPE from the federal stockpile. He said the state’s own efforts brought in many more resources, with Washington receiving 80 million items through its own efforts, with some 200 million in waiting.

In Inslee’s letter to Pence renewing his request for federal action, the governor said he also asked for the Trump administration to “develop a comprehensive assessment of production needs and protection needs by industries,” working with Congress to develop a “resilient stockpile” in anticipation of a potential resurgence of COVID-19. The letter also asked for more detailed federal guidance for workers across industries and assistance for employers on reconfiguring their business in a safe manner.

A state mandate for the majority of reopening businesses through the “Safe Start Washington” process went into effect June 8, requiring facial coverings for all employees who were not working alone in the workplace or on a jobsite. Reed Schuler, senior policy advisor for Inslee, said the state was looking into whether it could become a larger-scale purchaser of some kinds of PPE to expand access to items that fall into a “gray zone” between readily-available cloth facemasks and harder-to-obtain items like N95 masks.

“We’re considering a variety of options for ways that the state might be able to … use that broader purchasing power without necessarily becoming financially responsible, for a broader set of businesses, to help expand access,” Schuler said.

He said Washington has already made emergency distributions of more than 1 million cloth masks, with an order for an additional 4 million.