It's Not the Worst Plan - Just 47th

Source:  ShiftWA.org

Governor Jay Inslee’s administration now ranks 47^th in the country for immunizing state residents with the COVID-19 vaccine.   It evidently takes a national publication to point out how pathetic Inslee has done on vaccinating Washingtonians, as according to data collected by Bloomberg, only 34.8% of the vaccine doses Washington State has received from the federal government have been administered.  By comparison, Oregon has dispensed 64.7% of its vaccine doses.  Meanwhile Washington State businesses remain closed and students are kept out of their schools due to the high rate of infections.   As Inslee was announcing his latest revision to his previous failed immunization plans (which state health administrators had 9 months to develop), the governor was asked why the state was doing so poorly.  As we could have guessed, Inslee immediately blamed the Trump Administration, as if the 46 states who are performing better than Washington were dealing with a different federal government.  This is the latest failure of the Inslee Administration during the pandemic.  Seemingly everything the state has done in response to COVID-19, including providing accurate data, testing, tracing, administering unemployment benefits, and delivering facemasks to health professionals, has failed.  This is what happens when the governor excludes non-campaign donors, including local health agencies, from contributing ideas, and instead appears to make important health policy decisions mainly on the desires of those who financially supported his campaign.  (Bloomberg, Seattle Times, Shift, and Yakima Herald)

Maybe when Governor Inslee next changes his COVID vaccination plan (which past failures strongly indicate he will), he should listen to the viewpoint of the Vancouver Columbian (and many others) and move all educators to the front of the line so local administrators can reopen schools.  If the teachers’ unions are demanding extreme safety measures (and plenty of extra cash) before letting their members return to the classrooms, then the governor could do the children a favor and have the vaccine administered to all school personnel (not just those over 50) so our children can resume in-person education as soon as possible. (Vancouver Columbian)

Instead of focusing on fixing the many failures of his administration (and ending the suffering his policies have created), Governor Inslee continues to waste his time focusing on national politics.  Inslee is consistently seeking national microphones to say nothing new regarding President Trump, as if there are not enough Democrat members of Congress or liberal talking heads willing to say the president should be impeached.  Inslee adds absolutely nothing to the discussion and seems to be doing this to make himself feel relevant (after the Biden team snubbed him for a cabinet post he so desperately wanted).  We noticed something unique in the attached screengrab: while the governor is constantly hiding behind a mask when he announces his latest plan to correct his latest failed COVID-19 policy, yet for national TV audiences when he spouts his anti-Trump venom, the mask is gone. (Austin Jenkins Twitter)

In testimony this morning, the Washington Hospitality Association (WHA) stated that restaurants and bars forced to close indoor dining by Governor Inslee’s latest random shutdown order are losing an average of more than $20,000 a month.  The WHA also revealed data that indicates closing restaurants does extraordinarily little to reduce the infection rate, and in fact it might actually increase the infection rate because people congregate unsafely in personal homes instead of safely gathering in restaurants following health protocols.  Restaurants are only making 10% of their normal proceeds through takeout under Inslee’s mandates, while 45 states are offering indoor dining.  Data collected from other states shows that 1.4% of infections are tied to restaurants. This corresponds with Washington State contact tracing data, which showed restaurants (during the short time they were allowed to re-open in Washington) were the cause of less than 1% of COVID-19 infections. (Washington Hospitality Association presentation materials)

Due to the high price of gas (which Governor Inslee and the Democrats want to make even higher) and car ownership, and due to a terrible road infrastructure in the state, Washington State ranks 3rd worst (behind only California and Hawaii) of states to drive in.  The survey was conducted by Wallethub, and used 31 metrics to evaluate drivability in each state. (News Tribune)