We’re living in a crazy world, and trying to make sense of it can give you whiplash.
We’re all tired of this coronavirus pandemic and the physical, emotional, mental and financial toll it’s taken.
So, I understand why, despite Gov. Jay Inslee’s closure of indoor dining, Rod Samuelson wanted to keep Spiffy’s restaurant open. So do all other restaurant owners in Washington. That’s their livelihood, although they can still fulfill takeout orders.
On the other hand, the coronavirus is real. Cases are soaring. Emergency rooms and intensive care units are filling up. Our frontline healthcare workers — heroes in my book — are fighting to save people who are ill, including many who never bothered to wear a mask or socially distance despite government recommendations. Studies have shown that indoor dining, where people sit together in a room for a half hour or longer without masks, contributes to the spread of coronavirus.
But it kills only 2 percent of people — the old, the sick, the medically fragile — so why quarantine the entire population to protect a few? I happen to be pro-life, and as such, I believe all life is precious — including the old, the sick and the medically fragile. That’s why I wear a mask. And that’s why I don’t understand many pro-life friends who refuse to do so.
Last week, Samuelson reopened Spiffy’s — not quietly but shouting in press releases sent to newspapers, television studios and radio stations that “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!” When state Labor and Industries workers ordered the restaurant closed, the manager yelled the information to customers, who stood to confront the workers who were just doing their jobs. To the mask-less, gun-toting “patriots” who filled his restaurant and parking lot last week, Samuelson’s rebellion makes him a hero. He’s being lauded by viewers of Fox News, which interviewed him Monday morning. He’s encouraged other businesses to remain open in violation of Inslee’s mandates.
“We join the city of Mossyrock and the restaurant in Kennewick, Wash., in telling the governor of Washington he is out of his jurisdiction in making edicts that affect private businesses,” Samuelson wrote.
The Mossyrock City Council in late November voted to ignore Inslee’s latest restrictions on indoor dining, saying it didn’t see a COVID-19 emergency inside the city limits.
“If we had good data saying Mossyrock should be doing what we’re doing, that’d be fine,” Mayor Randall Sasser said. “Throughout this whole thing, we’ve always been asking our citizens, ‘do you know of anyone in our area with the virus?’ We don’t know of anybody who has it.”
Now they probably do.
On Friday, the Mossyrock School District distributed an email, stating, “We currently have two staff members and six students who have tested positive for COVID-19…In addition, we have another five staff members and 20 students that have had close contact with someone who has COVID-19. …For a district of our size to be without seven of our staff members is quite an impact and we must pivot to full remote instruction for at least another week…”
Mossyrock’s actions show the need for Lewis County to release information about coronavirus cases by town rather than commissioner district. Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer’s office advised against releasing the information by ZIP code because it could raise privacy concerns in small communities. But that’s not a problem in Adams County, which has a population of 20,000. So why is it a problem in Lewis County with 82,000 people?
When he read criticism of his reopening, Samuelson posted on Facebook: “Until you have walked in the shoes of our employees, all those in opposition should keep their negative comments to themselves.”
I’m a business owner, but I work with contractors rather than employees. I know personal historians who obtained $600-a-week unemployment payments because of the pandemic, which raised my eyebrows since they already worked from home. I don’t understand why Spiffy’s employees couldn’t receive unemployment to keep them afloat, but Samuelson has said they didn’t.
In early April, Spiffy’s was among 67 Chehalis area businesses to obtain government loans — possibly forgivable — of at least $150,000 through the federal Paycheck Protection Program. Spiffy’s received between $150,000 and $350,000, in part to help pay workers’ wages. Some businesses received several million dollars. That public information is available at https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/
I favored government assistance for businesses forced to shut down and individuals laid off because of the pandemic. Even more help is needed. But perhaps going forward, businesses flouting government restrictions should be barred from obtaining government assistance.
Last spring, a Christian writer friend kept sending me invitations to Reopen Washington. I’m not an epidemiologist, and neither is she. I defer to experts who have studied diseases and the spread of infection. When this same friend and her husband contracted coronavirus, I prayed for their recovery. Now she’s again rallying to reopen the state. I understand the desire; I’m not sure about the wisdom.
When Inslee asked local law enforcement to protect state L&I workers, Meyer and Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza wrote a letter saying they were too busy dealing with the fallout from the pandemic — domestic violence, drug abuse, suicides, and homelessness — to enforce the governor’s mandates. I understand; they want to be re-elected in conservative Lewis County where Samuelson is a hero.
Hmmm… Does that mean when a sheriff’s deputy pulls me over for speeding on White Pass Highway, I can refuse the ticket? After all, it’s a federal highway with a state speed limit, so how can local law enforcement officers have time to enforce it?
All last week, I prayed violence wouldn’t erupt at Spiffy’s or elsewhere in the state.
And I kept wondering about responsible business owners following the state’s restrictions, which were imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus and protect public health and safety. While Spiffy’s rakes in money from people swarming to the restaurant to support Samuelson’s rebellion, others struggle.
Eddie McNally, who owns McFiler’s Bar in Chehalis, told a KING 5 reporter he has followed state restrictions, and business has slowed even more than during the first shutdown. Asked what he thought about Spiffy’s reopening for indoor dining, he said, “It’s kind of annoying, to be honest.”
Dawn Merchant of Dawn’s Delectables in Centralia, who laid off half of her 15 employees earlier this year, said on Facebook she obtained a PPP loan under $150,000. On Nov. 18, after Inslee issued his latest restrictions, she laid off half her staff again. This time the government is offering no assistance.
“Either way, it has been super hard and stressful,” she wrote.
Although many describe COVID-19 as “just the flu,” we’re likely to see cases and death counts soar in Lewis County. When they do, who’s to blame?
And when local officials try to lure high-tech jobs to Lewis County, and those savvy business owners refuse to come, maybe we’ll know why.
Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.
