Nicholas Bozarth and Jessica Blankenship of Mary's Corner Medical Clinic complete a round of COVID-19 nasal swabs while testing for the virus at a drive-up site located outside the clinic last month in Chehalis.
For the time being, Lewis County will remain in the first phase of Gov. Jay Inslee’s “Safe Start” reopening plan.
Lewis County Public Health and Social Services Director J.P. Anderson and Health Officer Dr. Rachel Wood do not feel as if the county is currently ready to apply for a variance that would move it into the second phase of reopening, they told the Board of Health in a meeting on Thursday.
Inslee’s Safe Start plan is scheduled to occur in phases, but counties can apply for variances to move more quickly through the process.
Anderson said that based on the county’s population being over 75,000, Lewis County isn’t eligible to apply for the variance. Regardless, though, he said the county was still prepared to put together an application.
He referenced the outcome of Mason County’s push to apply as an ineligible county as one of the reasons why he felt it was best not to proceed.
“I had been talking with (Director of Community Services for Mason County) Dave Windom and he was going to apply as one of this group that had been counted in the possible six next counties (eligible),” Anderson said. “On a call this week, we learned their fate — they were told that the Department of Health would not review that application at this time.”
The ineligibility factor, though, still wouldn’t have stopped the application for moving forward “if we (public health) felt ready,” according to Anderson.
“That doesn’t mean that we’re not eligible in the near future,” Anderson said.
He said he was informed by Washington Secretary of Health John Wiesman on Wednesday night that Lewis County was ineligible to apply for the variance specifically due to the population.
“We’re going to continue to advocate for our county to be reviewed fairly and as an individual county,” Anderson said. “But we’re also going to be pushing for the entire state to use metrics that we think are realistic and will still allow us to open safely.”
According to the variance applications guidelines set forth by Gov. Inslee’s office, a signed recommendation letter from Dr. Wood is required. During the meeting, she said the county is not yet ready to move into Phase 2.
From her perspective, the county has made strides in working with its partners, emphasizing testing availability, case management efforts and training health department staff. Still, she doesn’t feel protection measures for those in vulnerable populations are where they need to be.
“Just this week, we are in the middle of an investigation in a congregate setting,” Dr. Wood said. “We do not know the extent to which infections will show up in that setting, or the extent to which those people working in the setting may or may not be infected. There’s a lot of unknowns.”
At this time, with the aforementioned investigation ongoing, Dr. Wood said she didn’t feel responsible condoning a variance.
“I need to have more information,” Dr. Wood said. “Additionally, because of this (congregate living) situation, I got three seperate calls from my healthcare partners, specifically, hospitals in the county and they were from three different parts of the hospital system. (They were) saying, ‘are you really going to apply for a variance? We have this issue going on and we’re concerned about surge capacity.’”
The county has made progress, though, toward being ready to move into the second phase, according to Dr. Wood.
“I think we have moved down the line towards applying for a variance,” Dr. Wood said. “But, I don’t think we’re ready now and we need a lot more information about the situation that has developed this week.”
Lewis County Commissioners Gary Stamper and Bobby Jackson expressed concerns rooted in the economic fallout of the decision to not push for a move into Phase 2.
Stamper said he’s not sure when a resolution will be reached.
“At some point, it’s never going to end,” he said. “We know that we’re never going to eradicate it (COVID-19), you know, like the flu, it’s never going to be eradicated … we’re going to continue to chase this rabbit forever, if we don’t, at least, do something.”
He continued by saying he expected the county would move forward with its variance application.
“I thought we were going to be ready to go for the variance,” Stamper said. “All of a sudden, we (potentially have) more cases, which we do have one case, it sounds like, but we’re looking at that as a potential outbreak. So, I mean, if that’s what we’re going to do, we’re never going to open up. In the meantime, while Nero is fiddling, Rome is burning, in this case (Rome is) Lewis County.”
Jackson stressed the concern on the part of the Commissioners for the citizens of Lewis County, from a well-rounded perspective.
“We are concerned about, not only the physical health of our citizens, but their mental health, their emotional health, their economic health, as well as even their spiritual health,” Jackson said. “So, we have to be concerned with so many different aspects of this and it’s been very frustrating for us, because the information keeps changing.”
He continued by stressing the need to move to the next phase of the process.
“I found out yesterday, 24 hours before this meeting, that we were not going to be able to apply for this (variance),” Jackson said. “We’ve got to find a way to get to the point that we can get this done, that’s the bottom line.”
Anderson said the lack of precedence for an event on the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic took everyone by surprise. He said the reason the county hasn’t been able to progress into the next phase of reopening could be traced back to “failures well beyond our county borders, well beyond our state borders and well beyond our national borders.”
Still, he said he wasn’t shying away from the unique challenges presented by the novel coronavirus.
“It is up to me, as the Public Health director, to provide a plan for us to get there (to the next phase),” Anderson said. “I’m not giving up on that because it’s not happening today.”
He cited the current expiration of Gov. Inslee’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy,” order as a date that could carry some significance as it relates to the county’s next steps.
“I think that June 1 is going to be a meaningful date,” Anderson said.
