Coronavirus updates: Timing of stimulus payments; Washington in West Coast reopening pact
This page includes coronavirus developments around Washington state for Tuesday, April 15.
Updated at 3:30 p.m.
Pierce County has reached 1,000 COVID-19 cases after reporting 32 new cases Tuesday.
Some previous cases were reassigned among counties following Monday’s reported count, which was 969.
The county also reported three additional deaths, including a man in his 80s from the Edgewood/Milton/Fife area, a Tacoma woman in her 70s and a Bonney Lake man in his 70s. All had underlying health conditions.
The county has reported 23 virus-related deaths since the outbreak began.
Tacoma reports the highest case (351) and death (seven) totals in the county. Nearly half of the county’s new reported cases Tuesday were from Tacoma.
Daily case totals can change as the county receives new information about cases, finds duplicate data or is assigned cases that were originally attributed to other counties. The health department has released a statement on delays in data posting.
Tuesday’s geographical totals are listed below with Monday’s numbers in parenthesis:
▪ Bonney Lake: 27 (no change)
▪ Central Pierce County: 59 (no change)
▪ East Pierce County: 32 (30)
▪ Edgewood/Fife/Milton: 54 (53)
▪ Frederickson: 35 (31)
▪ Gig Harbor area: 47 (46)
▪ Graham: 35 (no change)
▪ JBLM: No longer reported
▪ Key Peninsula: 6 (no change)
▪ Lake Tapps/Sumner area: 23 (no change)
▪ Lakewood: 77 (75)
▪ Parkland: 48 (47)
▪ Puyallup: 49 (48)
▪ South Hill: 60 (58)
▪ South Pierce County: 19 (no change)
▪ Southwest Pierce County: 8 (no change)
▪ Spanaway: 32 (no change)
▪ Tacoma: 351 (337)
▪ University Place: 36 (33)
▪ Unknown: 2 (no change)
Daily reports include cases received by 11:59 p.m. the previous day.
Insurance Commissioner urges Congress to reinstate federal reinsurance program
Updated at 12:45 p.m.
Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler is urging Congress to reinstate a federal reinsurance program to reduce the rise of health insurance premiums.
In a letter to Washington state’s congressional representatives, Kreidler said reinsurance that was part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) from 2014 through 2016 resulted in premiums that were 10% to 15% lower than they would have been without the program.
The program reduced rate increases for individuals who bought plans through the individual health insurance markets in the United States, including over 250,000 in Washington.
“I continue to believe that reviving the federal reinsurance program is the most important step that Congress could take to maintain and increase the stability of our individual market,” Kreidler wrote.
“With the massive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses and their employees, the individual health insurance market’s role as a safety net is even more critical.”
Most stimulus payments will arrive Wednesday
Updated at 10:45 a.m.
Check your bank account. If you qualify for a government stimulus rebate via direct deposit, it should be there by Wednesday in many cases.
The Internal Revenue Service started depositing the money Saturday. Monday, IRS and the Treasury Department said “tens of millions of Americans will receive their payments via direct deposit by Wednesday, April 15.”
Many who filed tax returns in 2018 or 2019 and have provided direct deposit information to the IRS In the past should see deposits that will usually total $1,200 per adult and $500 per child soon.
If the money isn’t there, consumers can after Friday go to a new IRS site, Get My Payment, that will allow people to check the status of their rebate. It should include the date the payment would be deposited or mailed.
That site should also include a way for those without an account on file to provide it, so they can get their payment more quickly.
Report says distancing efforts working, must continue
Updated at 9:55 p.m.
A new report suggests physical distancing efforts are working to slow COVID-19 transmission in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties more successfully than earlier anticipated, and individual and household efforts are having a positive impact.
The measure of how many new infections a single COVID-19 infection will produce has now dropped to around 1 in King County, with similar trends observed in Snohomish and Pierce counties.
Bellevue-based Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM) developed the report, analyzing similar data to its previous forecast for King County. This new data provides enhanced results from previous virus transmission models reported from IDM that analyzed the overall “mobility” of people in King County, both before and after physical distancing policies were announced. Using anonymized mobility data from the two previous reports, IDM researchers found COVID-19 transmission measures continued to decline for the most recent report.
“We know the sacrifices and uncertainty families, businesses, schools and communities across Washington have faced. This new report confirms that working together through this crisis with unwavering commitment is slowing this serious disease,” said Dr. Kathy Lofy, Washington State Health Officer. “Our collective efforts are working, but we can’t let up our guard.”
While the report and other data are encouraging signs and will help guide policy decisions, the release said any modifications to stay at home orders will need to happen gradually to prevent rebound of disease activity.
Long-time Tacoma service provider avoids layoffs for now
Updated at 9:25 a.m.
The Tacoma Community House, a nonprofit, community-based service center for immigrants, refugees and long-time South Sound residents, has had its doors closed for several weeks now.
With its staff working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic, the organization has canceled various volunteer services, including its Read2Me program where volunteers read to young kids, Citizenship Practices and ELA information sessions.
It also canceled its annual luncheon, a fundraiser set to take place on April 17 that also would have commemorated the organization’s 110th anniversary.
That meant it turned to virtual fundraising campaign April 1-3. The result exceeded the $100,000 goal by raising $107,580. The organization is still accepting online donations.
When it comes to the long term, Lauren Walker Lee, executive director of Tacoma Community House (TCH), hopes to be able to come back soon but can’t commit to when that might be.
“I’m guessing it’s going to be beyond May 4,” Lee said. “I’m hoping that it’s not much longer, but we do need to provide a safe and healthy environment.”
Lee said she hopes to avoid layoffs.
“I’ve been worried about having to do layoffs, and this fundraiser at this time really helped to put that decision off until later,” she said. “I have every intent of not doing layoffs but it depends how long this goes.”
West Coast states announce agreement
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced an agreement on a shared vision for reopening their economies and controlling COVID-19 into the future.
While each governor will build a state-specify plan, they said in a shared statement released Monday that they agreed to the following principles for a West Coast framework:
▪ Residents’ health comes first.
▪ Health outcomes and science will guide decisions. Modifications to the states’ stay at home orders must be made based off our understanding of the total health impacts of COVID-19. The effort will be guided by data. There needs to be a decline in the rate of spread of the virus before large-scale reopening.
▪ Each state will work with its local leaders and communities within its borders to understand what’s happening on the ground and adhere to the agreed upon approach.
The full release can be found here.
Commerce announces Small Business Resiliency Assistance
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
The Washington State Department of Commerce announced a new partnership with organizations that serve cultural and historically disadvantaged businesses and communities across the state.
The Small Business Resiliency Assistance program will provide technical assistance to small business owners affected by the COVID pandemic. Find the list of participating organizations here.
This group is reaching out to small business owners and working with them individually to find and apply for assistance that can help them right now. Several of the partners are translating information about available funding and other resources and will help people complete application materials that are required in English.
The following organizations are providing assistance:
▪ Tacoma Urban League
▪ Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
▪ Inland Northwest Business Alliance
▪ La Casa Hogar
▪ Sister Sky, Inc.
▪ Tabor Business HUB
▪ Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber
▪ Ventures Nonprofit
▪ Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda)
▪ AHANA
▪ Spokane Independent Metro Business Alliance
Participating partner organizations will be eligible for reimbursement of allowable expenses for translating information, conducting outreach and providing business coaching, mentoring and education on what assistance is available to small businesses now, and to prepare for the future post-COVID-19 emergency response.
UW Medicine new patient admissions to get COVID-19 test
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
UW Medicine will now administer COVID-19 tests to all patients admitted to Harborview Medical Center and UW Medical Center (Montlake and Northwest campuses). This is a change from the previous policy in which only those patients with COVID-19 symptoms were tested.
As more becomes known about some individuals having a positive test without symptoms, UW Medicine wants to know the status of every patient in the hospitals so that clinicians and staff can safely care for them. It is also able to do this because it has same day turnaround times because of its internal testing capability at the UW Medicine Virology Lab.
14 counties no longer accepting ‘Working Washington’ grant applications after overwhelming demand
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
Days after the state announced a new grant program to help small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it came to an end in 14 counties, including Thurston County, after overwhelming demand, state information shows.
Other counties no longer collecting applications include Whatcom and Lewis counties.
The program, Working Washington Small Business Emergency Grants, was announced by the governor on April 7. It provided $5 million to make grants of up to $10,000 to small businesses with up to 10 full-time employees, among other requirements.
Administered by the state Department of Commerce, and working with local economic development officials, the state received 23,000 applications statewide last week, spokeswoman Penny Thomas said.
“Companies are hurting,” she said in reaction to the demand.
However, the state did not make the decision to stop collecting the applications, Thomas said. That decision was left up to local economic development officials, she said.
Thurston Economic Development Council executive director Michael Cade stopped accepting applications late last week after the county received 861 applications for the funding.
“Each county has a per-capita allotment,” Cade said Monday, adding that Thurston County was guaranteed a minimum of 15 grants, with a potential high of 64 grants.
The EDC was analyzing and ranking the applications for the state, he said.
In Whatcom County, the applications were cut off after economic development officials there received 752 last week, and in Lewis County, it was halted after 143 applications, spokeswoman Thomas said.
Although the “Working Washington” website is no longer accepting applications, the EDC website still is, but given the per-capita allotment, new applicants likely won’t receive any money, Cade said.
Pierce Transit limits passengers per bus, allows essential workers to call for rides
Updated at 8:30 a.m.
Pierce Transit will begin limiting the number of passengers on each bus amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The agency also will begin providing rides to people working in jobs deemed “essential” by the state.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department announced Sunday that Pierce Transit will start limiting the number of passengers on each bus to 15. Once a bus has seated 15 riders, the driver will continue on the route until passengers get off the bus before picking up more riders.
“Pierce Transit has added a few buses to some routes to make sure no one misses their ride,” the blog post said.
Drivers have been given protective supplies like gloves, masks and hand sanitizer. Buses are cleaned several times throughout the day, the health department said.
Riders are asked to board the bus using the rear door and keep social distancing measures on the bus. Pierce Transit buses are free to ride during the pandemic.
The transportation agency announced Monday that workers deemed essential employees can call Pierce Transit and schedule a ride to work.
Essential workers should call 253-581-8000 and select option 2 to speak to a representative to arrange a ride. Trips must be scheduled in advance and no later than 5 p.m. the day before the needed ride. The special service is available Monday through Friday.
When calling, riders need to explain why they are considered an essential worker, what bus route they usually take, what time they commute and a desired pickup and drop-off locations.
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 8:37 AM with the headline "Coronavirus updates: Timing of stimulus payments; Washington in West Coast reopening pact."
