Gov. Inslee announces new restrictions on dining, shopping and gyms. Here are the details
New rules will go into effect statewide this week that will eliminate indoor service at restaurants and bars, close indoor activity at gyms, and limit occupancy at retail stores to 25% in an effort to curb the dramatic “third wave” in COVID-19 cases in Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Sunday.
“Good morning,” Gov. Inslee began a news conference Sunday morning, “Today, November 15, 2020, I have to report to Washingtonians, is the most dangerous public health day in over 100 years in our state’s great history. It is troublesome, but I must report that we have a pandemic raging across our state...”
He then announced a range of new restrictions slated to take effect 11:59 p.m. Monday and last four weeks, until Dec. 14.
Then staff will review case counts, hospitalizations and deaths to “determine next steps,” according to the governor’s spokesperson Tara Lee.
“We obviously hope that we would be able to lift it then, but it all depends on the data,” Lee wrote in an email to McClatchy.
The enforcement framework for the new restrictions remains the same, Lee wrote in an email, meaning violating the emergency proclamation is a gross misdemeanor, which carries a sentence of up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000, according to previous reporting.
Lee confirmed that is correct, but clarified “education is first and always the initial response to enforcement.”
The governor also acknowledged the economic pain caused by previous restrictions and announced an effort to ease the restrictions’ impacts on businesses and workers, committing $50 million in federal aid he intends to allocate in grants and loans by the end of 2020.
He said he’ll “redouble” his efforts to put pressure on the federal government to come up with more relief, and called on others to do the same. Meanwhile, he said he’ll be working with legislators on alternatives for helping businesses and employees if the federal government doesn’t act.
Employers can apply for Paycheck Protection Plan forgivable loans from the Small Business Administration, Inslee said, at their local bank.
The Sunday news conference also included state health officer Dr. Kathy Lofy, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, King County Executive Dow Constantine, Spokane ICU nurse Clint Wallace, and Dr. George Diaz, an infectious disease physician at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett.
What’s in the new rules
Under the new restrictions, indoor social gatherings with people outside one’s household are prohibited, and outdoor gatherings should include five or fewer people from outside the household.
An exception to the indoor gatherings rule: People can gather indoors if they all quarantine for 14 days prior or quarantine for seven days prior and test negative for COVID-19 no more than 48 hours before the gathering.
According to the Governor’s Office, under the new restrictions:
Restaurants and bars won’t be able to offer indoor service. Outdoor dining with up to five people per table and to-go orders will be allowed. These start later than the other restrictions, at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Retail will be limited to 25% capacity inside stores, including grocery stores. Retail also must close any common seating areas, such as food courts in malls.
Religious services will be limited to whichever is smaller: 25% occupancy indoors or fewer than 200 people. Choirs, bands, and ensembles won’t perform during services, but soloists will be able to. Facial coverings will be required for congregation members, who won’t be allowed to sing.
Gyms and fitness facilities will be closed to indoor activity. Outdoor fitness classes can happen, but they’re limited by the outdoor gathering restrictions.
Movie theaters will close to indoor activity, while drive-ins will still be allowed.
Museums, zoos, aquariums, and bowling centers will close indoor spaces.
Real estate open houses will not be allowed.
Wedding and funeral receptions will not be allowed, and ceremonies will be limited to 30 guests or fewer.
At “miscellaneous venues” (as defined previously) such as conference centers, hotel meeting spaces, and sports arenas, retail activities and business meetings will not be allowed, and only professional training and testing that can’t be done remotely willl be allowed. Meeting room occupancy will be restricted to whichever is fewer: 25% or 100 people.
Professional services (as defined previously), such as attorneys, engineers, insurance agents, and other office-based work that serves clients have to close offices to the public and require employees to work from home when possible. If they’re open, occupancy will be limited to 25%.
Personal services (as defined previously), such as hairstylists, manicurists, and aestheticians, will be limited to a maximum occupancy of 25%.
Sporting activities for youth and adults must be outdoors with masks required.
Visits at long-term care facilities will only happen outside, with exceptions possible for “essential support persons and end-of-life care.”
A full list of restrictions will be available online soon, according to the governor’s remarks. Other activities are still required to follow current guidance. Child care and K-12 schools are exempt from the new rules, according to the Governor’s document, as are courts.
“At this time, we are not asking districts currently offering in-person instruction to close, unless the local health officer advises them to change course and the local school board makes that decision, as you know,” Inslee said Sunday.
How we got here
Inslee declared a state of emergency in late February, after the first COVID-19 related death in the U.S. occurred in Washington. In mid-March, the state introduced measures in rapid succession that, in part, set rules for long-term care facilities, limited event sizes, closed K-12 schools, ended dining in, and restricted non-urgent medical and dental procedures.
The new rules announced Sunday are the most sweeping for Washington since March, when Inslee issued the two week “stay-at-home” order requiring most residents to stay home unless going out for necessities such as groceries, a doctor’s appointment, or the pharmacy.
Since the spring, measures have evolved.
By early May, a reopening plan became a phased approach and an expansion by the end of the month allowed counties to move through phases to reopen. By the end of June, with cases rising, a statewide mask mandate went into effect and officials pressed pause on counties moving to Phase 4 of the so-called “Safe Start” plan.
In early July, the state paused all counties’ advancements. Requirements within phases have since been tweaked, recently to allow more activity in some phases.
Inslee’s latest, more sweeping move comes after two record-breaking days of new COVID-19 cases in Washington. Saturday saw more than 2,200 new confirmed cases in one day, breaking a single-day record set Friday. Inslee said at the news conference that preliminary numbers indicated there would again be a new record set Sunday.
Health Officer Dr. Kathy Lofy called this time period a “phase of accelerated, or exponential, growth of the outbreak.” Especially concerning, she said, is that the number of patients currently in Washington hospitals with COVID-19 increased about 40% in the past week, from 401 patients on Nov. 6 to 566 on Nov. 13.
State and local health officials sounded alarms early last week, warning of an accelerating surge that could flood hospitals and strain medical staffing.
Thursday, Gov. Inslee was joined his wife, Trudi, for an address where the couple asked Washingtonians to forego spending time with people outside their families over the upcoming holidays. Inslee also foreshadowed new restrictions.
The first such measure came Friday, with Gov. Inslee joining California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown in issuing advisories asking visitors arriving for non-essential travel from out-of-state to quarantine for 14 days.
Brown on Friday also announced a two-week “freeze” for Oregon that will limit restaurants and bars to only take-out and close gyms, among other actions, starting Nov. 18.
This story was originally published November 15, 2020 at 11:02 AM with the headline "Gov. Inslee announces new restrictions on dining, shopping and gyms. Here are the details."
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