Sean Swope holds his mask before being sworn in at the Lewis County Courthouse in Chehalis earlier this month.
After penning an open letter to Gov. Jay Inslee requesting “the immediate rollback of current lockdown mandates,” Lewis County Commissioner Sean Swope says he would have liked to do things differently.
In the letter, Swope says he understands the need to control COVID-19, but “believes that there has been a misinterpretation of the science surrounding the safety of in-restaurant dining.” The newly-elected commissioner then cites a Daily Nurse article that discusses a CDC study directly linking indoor dining to COVID-19 infections. When asked if the study is counter to what he was trying to convey, Swope said “it definitely is.”
Swope said he wrote the letter without the other two commissioners, and didn’t want to wait until the next open public meeting to send it.
“I think I did surprise Commissioner Gary and Commissioner Pollock on it,” Swope said. “And if I could redo it, I’d probably redo it differently. But I do want our constituents to know that we do want to find a solution to get them open in a way where they can make a profit.”
“The idea, and I probably could have stated it better, was that if we could find ways to get, let’s say an airline open, whether it be filters, whatever the situation is, let’s bring restaurants to the table and figure out a solution to be able to open them safely in a way where they can actually make money and not lose money.”
The letter focuses on the “crippling” impact of pandemic restrictions on the community, and doesn’t mention potential new policies to further minimize the risk of COVID-19 within restaurants.
“And that’s where I think having Commissioner Stamper and Commissioner Pollock, all of us collaborating together, to make sure that gets out,” Swope said.
Mike Faulk, a spokesperson for the governor, said he was unsure if Inslee had reviewed the letter, as the Governor’s Office has received a number of similar letters.
“But I can say this: Right now is not the right time to be reopening more indoor services. What control we do have on exponential growth of the virus remains precarious, and we know allowing more indoor services will result in an increase in activity,” he wrote in an email.
