FILE PHOTO — Fair & Events Manager, Tamara Hayes, far left, leads employees and commissioners through the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds in January 2019.
Lewis County residents in need of a place to isolate or quarantine as a response to COVID-19 might soon be directed to the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds.
In a meeting with the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, County Manager Erik Martin further detailed a plan for congregate and non-congregate housing at the Southwest Washington fairgrounds to be utilized by those in the county looking to isolate or quarantine.
As of April 7 at 5 p.m., There have been 16 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Lewis County and one death related to the novel coronavirus. Martin said the plan is in place should the situation present itself in which “a large number” of those who contract or have been exposed to the disease need a place to go.
“It’s great we have this site available to us,” Commissioner Edna Fund said on Wednesday. “I know other counties and some cities have purchased hotels and motels. That seemed a little bit over the top for our rural county.”
The effort has been collaborative, but was spearheaded by Social Services Housing Program Coordinator Meja Handlen and Budget Manager Becky Butler, who got some help from Martin, Public Works Director Josh Metcalf and Fair and Events Manager for the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds Tamara Hayes. Organizations such as the Salvation Army and other local churches have also played a role.
Hayes said the facility could only be used through the period in which events scheduled to take place at the Southwest Fairgrounds are canceled.
“So, events that we have in May or June, if they’re able to go on, they will be going on and this (the facility) will not be happening,” Hayes said. “I only made an agreement out until I knew that we had no events and then we’re going to revisit it as we know we have to push it further out.”
Congregate housing, or a facility that would be able to house multiple people, will be held in buildings already in place at the fairgrounds. Residents would be partitioned off, while the staff would do their best to keep everyone separate. Martin said the set-up would resemble the county’s cold weather shelter and would be housed in the same building.
Non-congregate housing would also be available for those looking to self quarantine. RVs would be positioned on the back-side of the fairgrounds, where occupants would have access to free utility hook-ups.
Martin said the project is estimated to cost over $2 million, but would be funded by FEMA “very quickly” if approved. He added the deadline to submit the project is tight and the submission could be made as early as Wednesday.
“Those plans are both scalable plans that could be up to a maximum amount and also be utilized pretty sparingly if we do not have a large number of folks that need to be quarantined and isolated, which is what we hope for,” Martin said. “We’re planning for the worst, but we’ll be able to scale it (the project) as needed for whatever response is appropriate.”
The Maple Lane facility in Thurston County was constructed with a similar purpose, to provide means of self-isolation and self-quarantine for those who need it.
After showing the facility to Gov. Jay Inslee in early March, Incident Commander for the Washington State Department of Health Nathan Weed gave some examples of who might need to utilize a facility like the one at Maple Lane or the proposed Southwest Washington Fairground project.
“Right now, in Washington, we have a number of people who are isolated or quarantined at home,” Weed said on March 4. “They’re very comfortable and things are going great. This is the type of facility, though, that someone who really doesn’t have a home to be in, or maybe they have someone that they’re living with that’s immunocompromised, or there’s something else going on in their life where that’s just not an appropriate option.”
Fund said the option to temporarily utilize the Southwest Fairgrounds to assist residents and limit the spread of COVID-19 was a method the county felt good about.
“The fact that we could repurpose our fairground areas to accommodate this, that feels really good,” Fund said.
