Here’s what Whatcom Unified Command has spent on coronavirus pandemic response
Whatcom Unified Command, the multi-governmental agency formed to handle local response to the new coronavirus pandemic, has spent about half the $4.5 million allocated to it by the County Council in April.
Officials at Unified Command told The Bellingham Herald in emails that spending through May 5 was $355,000 — with nearly $1.4 million in outstanding purchase orders.
Unified Command spent $187,000 for COVID-related supplies and services, $147,000 in overtime and $21,500 in other help, according to Bellingham Police Lt. Claudia Murphy, a Unified Command spokesperson.
May 5 figures were the most recent spending totals available, Murphy said.
Scott McCreery, emergency management and security officer for the Port of Bellingham, was named incident commander for Whatcom Unified Command on April 23.
McCreery told the County Council in a briefing Tuesday, May 19, that manpower remains the organization’s biggest concern.
Bellingham and other cities — plus Bellingham schools and some private and civic organizations — loaned workers to unified command in March and April, the harried early days of pandemic response, but many of those workers are being asked to return to their primary jobs.
“We support the need for that,” McCreery said. “As a result, we are at a much lower size within our unified command than we have been previously.”
Officials at the Emergency Operation Center are modeling scenarios of virus local spread and planning and preparing for a possible surge of new cases, he said.
Part of those preparations include finding isolation and quarantine facilities — in addition to the one currently at the Motel 6 in Bellingham — “ahead of the need,” McCreery said.
Donations total $108,000
Some of Unified Command’s need for protective face masks and other personal protective equipment for doctors, nurses, firefighters — and others who come in close contact with possibly infected people — was offset by donations from businesses and local residents.
Rud Browne, a member of the Whatcom County Council who is organizing donations for Whatcom Unified Command, told The Bellingham Herald in an interview that the agency has received 82,000 pieces of PPE valued at $108,000.
“We were able to get PPE when none was available so people didn’t have to go without,” Browne said. “The community stepped up and dug out their cupboards.”
Among businesses, the largest PPE donations came from BP Cherry Point Refinery, Phillips 66, Petrogas and Harbor Freight.
No cash donations were accepted, Murphy said.
Grant funds received
In addition, Bellingham, Whatcom County, Western Washington University and the Whatcom Transportation Authority bus service have received a combined $31 million in federal grants as part of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, federal officials said.
Whatcom County received a grant from the state Department of Commerce for $905,821 to pay for use of the idled Bellingham High School, which has been set aside as the Lighthouse Mission’s Drop In Center, Murphy said.
John Gargett, deputy director of the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management, told the council at its April 21 meeting that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would reimburse 75% of the Motel 6 cost, as well as other costs that are related to pandemic response.
What county has done
Murphy said that early in its response to the pandemic, unified command staff had a broad range of responsibilities, in addition to modeling virus spread and supporting the Health Department:
▪ Establish food bank deliveries.
▪ Activate donation facilities and establish rules for donations.
▪ Develop plans for isolation and quarantine facilities.
▪ Work with St. Joseph hospital, other health-care providers, and representatives of skilled nursing facilities to ensure care for sick and vulnerable residents.
▪ Create public-service videos and issue press releases.
▪ Build the WhatcomCOVID.com website and Whatcom Unified Command COVID-19 Facebook page and provide information for the Whatcom County Health Department’s COVID-19 website.
Bellingham contributions
One of the agencies that contributed staff and expertise to unified command was Bellingham, where Fire Department officers held key operations posts initially.
Bellingham Assistant Chief Andy Day remains assigned to unified command as McCreery’s assistant incident commander.
But other workers helped with various tasks — such as the library staff who sorted supplies in the logistics section.
Bellingham has spent nearly $1 million on pandemic response efforts, Finance Director Andy Asbjornsen told the City Council on Monday, May 19.
More than half of that is in labor costs, he said, including $300,000 for employees who worked at unified command.
“We don’t expect to be reimbursed by (Whatcom) County for any expenses,” Asbjornsen said.
But some federal reimbursement is possible, he said.
Command work continues
There’s no immediate end in sight, McCreery told the County Council on Tuesday.
“This is more of a crisis than an incident. It’s not a ‘fire,’ per se, where you knock that fire down and you get it out, and then you turn that facility over to the operators,” McCreery said.
“It is more of a Gulf of Mexico-type oil spill,” he said. “The well has not been capped. People still have active infections out in our community. And we do not have any immunization available.”
