FILE PHOTO — Jay Inslee takes a tour of a potential COVID-19 quarantine and isolation site at Maple Lane in March.
OLYMPIA — Addressing nearly 14,000 people at an AARP tele-town hall about the coronavirus, Gov. Jay Inslee strongly encouraged Washington residents who are 65 years old or above to not go to work unless they provide essential services such as health care or emergency response.
"If you can work from home, that's tremendous. But if you cannot, you really should not be going into an exposure situation right now," the governor said Saturday. "I have not issued a legally-binding order in this regard. I prefer to make an attempt to encourage Washingtonians to volunteer for this effort and we've had some, but we've not had enough."
The governor said he is working on a measure to ensure that workers who are 65 years old or above have a legal right and the financial means to leave the workplace and "self-isolate" for the remainder of the outbreak.
Inslee, state Secretary of Health John Wiesman and Attorney General Bob Ferguson answered questions for nearly 90 minutes from about a dozen of the 13,954 people people who dialed into the tele-town hall. Questions touched on child care, how to safely handle grocery deliveries, whether pets can carry the coronavirus, and whether access to P-Patches can continue during the epidemic.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said those who are 65 years old or above and people of any age who have serious underlying medical conditions such as heart disease and diabetes may be at higher risk for more serious complications from COVID-19, the disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Inslee stressed that of the 94 people who have died from COVID-19 in Washington, 10 per cent have been from ages 60 to 69, 23 per cent from 70 to 79, and 60 per cent from those 80 and over.
"The single best way we can come through this with a minimal number of lost loved ones is for people on this phone call...to essentially wrap themselves in a bubble right now.
"What we all can do to protect ourselves and our loved ones is to absolutely minimize our physical connection with anyone outside our immediate household," said Inslee. He referred to social distancing that involves staying at least six feet away from another person.
Asked by a caller if there are any projections on when the "crisis might peak," Wiesman replied: "What we've seen in other countries is these outbreaks have been lasting maybe three months, four months...So we're carefully watching this. We're trying to do everything we can to what we call 'spread this out' over some time and decrease the number of cases that we have.
"Our goal here really is to not overwhelm the health care system with a lot of severely-ill folks," Wiesman added.
Asked by a caller about how to handle deliveries to your residence, Wiesman said people should unpack groceries and then wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
"The washing your hands piece is incredibly important because if you do touch something with the virus, you're not going to be infected with it unless you get your virus into your mouth or your eyes or your nose," he said.
Given that children can get the virus and transmit it, Wiesman said older people who provide child care to family members should not do so if those relatives have other options.
"If that isn't possible, then everyone in your life really should be following good hygiene," he said.
Asked by a caller about pets, Wiesman said: "There's still a lot we don't fully know about this virus. But at this point we don't have any evidence that animals or pets in the U.S. are carrying COVID-19. We are encouraging that if folks are ill, they really do separate themselves from their pets, just for good hygiene reasons."
A caller said the community where she lives has cut off access to residents' P-Patches, which are community gardens.
"Not being able to water my posy or pick a piece of lettuce for my salad, it's really a little devastating," the woman told Inslee. "I'm sorry to sound not sensitive to everything that is going on, but a little sunshine goes a long way."
Inslee suggested that the woman talk with management to limit the number of people in the P-Patch at one time so social distancing can be maintained.
"There is a tension here, which all of us are going to have to work through, which is we want to reduce our exposure to other people but we want to get fresh air and exercise. I have got to believe we can do both of those things by working together," he said.
Ferguson offered advice on how to avoid scams that are spreading because of the coronavirus epidemic.
He said his wife recently showed him a text she received on her phone that said you could get a $1,000 payment from the federal government if you clicked on a link. "Clearly a scam," he said.
Ferguson said scammers also are offering tests and cures for COVID-19.
"If you see anything like that, through the mail, through a phone call, through an email, through a text message, I just really encourage everybody...to be very, very suspicious of that. Do not open those links. There is no cure. There is no $1,000 check right now coming to you in the mail if you just click a link on your email," he said.
Ferguson also urged caution on charitable donations, saying people can check with the Secretary of State's office to determine if a group is reputable.
"If you are not familiar with the organization that is requesting the donation, do not make that donation. Rely on organizations that you know well. But even there, you have to be careful.
"Sometimes there may be a well-respected, well-known charity, but a scammer will simply change one letter in the name of that organization and suddenly you are making a donation to a scam, not to that actual organization," he said.
Ferguson said the attorney general's office has sent out the equivalent of a subpoena to several online and bricks-and-mortar businesses about alleged price-gouging since the outbreak began.
"It's too soon to say now whether or when those will lead to lawsuits or not, but that is something we are very focused on right now," he said.
Unlike other states, Washington does not have a specific statute prohibiting price-gouging, Ferguson said. He said the Legislature needs to approve a bill enabling the governor, once a statewide emergency is declared, to make it illegal for the price of certain product such as hand sanitizer to be increased.
Ferguson said he's using the state's Consumer Protection Act that prohibits "unfair business practices" to pursue alleged price-gougers.
Inslee, Ferguson, and Wiesman gave out several phone numbers and links to websites about COVID-19. AARP Washington has collected them here.
The tele-town hall ended with Inslee suggesting three books to read during the outbreak: "Kon-Tiki" by Thor Heyerdahl, "West with the Night" by Beryl Markham, and "Profiles in Courage" by John F. Kennedy.
The governor also encouraged people to watch episodes of his mother's favorite television show, "The Golden Girls," a sitcom which aired from 1985 to 1992 about four older women who "experience the joys and angst of their golden years."
