Local city, county and public health officials are frustrated that the state’s new “Healthy Washington” phased reopening plan lumps Lewis County into a broader region with Thurston, Pacific and Grays Harbor counties.
For many, the fear is that it’s a step toward Gov. Jay Inslee’s plan to replace local health departments — which report to county governments — with regionalized districts that report to the state.
“I think that that’s an easy conclusion to draw from this, that they’re working to develop these districts,” Public Health Director J.P. Anderson said last week.
The proposal for regional health districts was included in Inslee’s proposed budget last month, and while Anderson said it could mean a much-needed infusion of state funding, he also fears it could “backfire” by undermining local relationships and trust that countywide public health districts can generate. Other county leaders contended that local schools would not have been able to reopen so quickly had it not been for a local public health department and regular collaboration with the community.
Several county officials oppose the idea, and former county commissioner Edna Fund reported Friday that “our legislators are working really hard to not have that hit the light of day.”
Last week, “Healthy Washington” was clearly unpopular at a meeting between local mayors, public health officials and county commissioners. The restrictions that businesses were operating under since November were effectively extended, since each region will begin in the restrictive Phase 1.
“It’s kind of a kick in the teeth,” Morton Mayor Dan Mortensen said, noting that a few Morton businesses have already been lost. “Everyone was looking forward to getting businesses operating.”
Part of Inslee’s rationale for creating eight broad regions was that the virus “doesn’t respect county lines.” Regions were based on the emergency medical services regions currently used to evaluate health care services.
Reopening regionally will mean different things for different counties. As Anderson pointed out, some counties performing above-average may be held back by neighboring counties that still don’t have a handle on the virus. On the other hand, counties performing poorly may be propelled into more lenient restrictions before they would otherwise be allowed to. It’s unclear where Lewis County will fall on the spectrum. While Pacific and Thurston counties seem to have infections under control more so than Lewis County, Grays Harbor County’s numbers continue to soar.
“Being in education for almost 30 years, this regional approach almost sounds like group punishment,” County Commissioner Gary Stamper said. “If Johnny talks in class we’re going to make the whole class sit in for recess. So that’s very frustrating.”
Chehalis Mayor Dennis Dawes echoed the sentiment.
“It really troubles me that they’re trying to put us in a regional, and once again try to take away that local control,” he said. “I think that’s going to be a hazardous road to go down.”
With “our fortunes tied together,” Anderson said the plan raises a “public health concern.”
“By making these decisions broader, you lose the ability to make smaller, more targeted decisions,” he said. “And if it’s data-driven, why not make them smaller, data-driven decisions? That’s my thought. You have the capacity to make those decisions just based on the county. What’s the benefit of going by region?”
On Friday, the state Department of Health released a “Roadmap to Recovery Report,” confirming that no region would progress into Phase 2 on Monday, Jan 11. It also gave credence to Anderson’s prediction that it will take several weeks before the west region — Lewis County’s region — will advance to Phase 2. Currently, the region is only meeting one of four metrics, with two metrics — hospitalization rates and test positivity — “increasing or high.”
