If Only The State Had More Data!

Source:  ShiftWA.org

Four regions in Washington State under Governor Jay Inslee’s random “Roadmap to Recovery” should be moved forward to Phase 2, if only the state used more accurate data.  This is the disturbing finding of a new report from the Washington Policy Center.  The four impacted regions are East, North Central, South Central, and Puget Sound.  Thus, residents in nearly all of Eastern Washington and in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, should be allowed to increase activities (i.e. indoor dining and entertainment could resume) if the state used current information and also eliminated a meaningless criteria.  The governor’s plan uses four metrics to determine each region’s phase: 1) trend in case rate; 2) trend in hospital admissions rate; 3) percent Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity; and 4) percent of COVID tests that are positive. Yet the state’s data for the first criteria (“trend in case rate”) is two or three weeks old.  This old data is keeping all of the state’s regions in Phase 1, while current data is more positive and would allow a few regions to move to Phase 2.  The report also highlights the problem with the fourth criteria (“percent of COVID tests that are positive”), which is meaningless since it is more of an indicator of the number of people tested and can be easily manipulated.  In order to move to Phase 2, a region needs to have less than 10% infection rate OF THOSE TESTED. As we have seen around the state, regions can manipulate this result by simply increasing the number of those tested with people who are less likely to have the virus.  Unfortunately, this meaningless criteria is also preventing the re-opening of restaurant, bars, theaters, and museums and their employment of hundreds of thousands. (Washington Policy Center, Governor Inslee’s “Roadmap to Recovery” Plan, and Wenatchee World)

While Governor Jay Inslee delivers public comments supporting returning students to in-person instruction, his COVID-19 vaccination plan allows the teachers unions to keep many schools closed.  On Tuesday, the governor appeared to take a stand against his longtime (and massive) campaign contributors at the Washington Education Association (WEA), by proclaiming that when communities ask teachers to safely return to in-person instruction, they are not asking anything more of educators then what bus drivers, childcare providers, fire fighters, police officers, and grocery store workers have been doing for months.  Yet, when the governor was asked if he was willing to alter the state’s immunization plan (as has been encouraged by Republican and Democrat legislative leaders) to allow ALL teachers and school employees to receive the vaccine (currently, only some of the teachers above the age of 50 are eligible to receive a vaccination), Governor Inslee said, “No, we have not given consideration to that.” The governor said he is unwilling to alter the current immunization priorities because “if you give [a 25-year-old teacher] that vaccine, her 80-year-old grandmother doesn’t get it. And her mother doesn’t get it.”  Thus, the governor is not doing anything to assist in reopening schools because most local teachers unions are standing firm in not returning to classrooms until all teachers, regardless of age, have been vaccinated. And, the governor creates a false scenario by referring to an “80-year-old”, as that person should have already been vaccinated if Inslee’s Phase 1 plan is working.  Plainly put, the governor continues to say one thing, but his actions are showing something else. (KIRO-TV and “Four Corners” letter to Governor Inslee/Shift Article)

To illustrate that Governor Inslee’s immunization priorities are preventing students from returning to the classroom, here is the story of the Marysville School District developing a workable plan which meets the teachers’ demand of vaccinating all educators before in-person instruction is resumed.  The district is working with the Tulalip Tribe (which showed it is not restricted by Governor Inslee’s random decrees by re-opening its casinos early in the pandemic) to provide immunization shots to all of its teachers and staff who are in contact with students.  Thus, the Marysville School District has found a way to get around Governor Inslee’s roadblocks that are keeping students out of their classrooms. (KING5 News)

The Republicans on the Senate State Government and Elections Committee surprised a befuddled Democrat Chair Sam Hunt by asking for a vote to be taken on the bipartisan bill which will move the entire state into Phase 2.  As the committee moved into executive session this morning (at the 46 minute mark on the video), Senator Jeff Wilson (R – Longview) made a motion for the committee to give a “due pass recommendation” on SB 5114.  Immediately Senator Brad Hawkins (R – East Wenatchee) seconded the motion.  A bumbling Senator Hunt was obviously confused about what to do.  He asked nervously, “Do we need to caucus on that?” Immediately, the ultra-partisan Senator Patty Kuderer (D – Bellevue) chimed in, “Yes, we do, Mr. Chairman.” After a brief recess, Sen. Hunt called the committee back, and said he was upset with the motion (an emotion some find shocking considering how rude the senator was to members of the public who wanted to testify on SB 5114 last week).  The senator then said, “To not mess up things further, we are going to adjourn for the day.”  Apparently, Senator Hunt needed to confer with Democrat leadership on what to do next to avoid allowing a vote to take place on the legislation.  Obviously, Democrats do not want to go on the record on this popular bill, for that would force legislators to take a public stance on whether they support Governor Inslee’s unpopular (and ineffective) one-man rule of the state’s economy.  (TVW starting at the 46-minute mark, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and Shift)