Gov. Inslee says people should consider skipping large events to avoid virus exposure

Gov. Jay Inslee said Monday that Washington residents should think about avoiding large events and assemblies because of the coronavirus outbreak.

“We are not making a request formally right now for events to be canceled, but people should be prepared for that possibility. As this situation develops, what people are likely to see is local officials, county health, and school districts responding to this. I also have emergency authority in this regard,” he said at a press conference.

A day after Inslee spoke, the death toll from coronavirus reached nine in Washington. Last Saturday, the governor declared a state of emergency as Public Health-Seattle & King County announced an individual died from COVID-19, the first fatality in the United States.

On Monday morning, the state Health Department asked the Legislature for $100 million to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. “We want to mount a response that is the right response for Washington and one where I am not worried about, ‘do I have the money to actually mount the response that we need?’” said state Secretary of Health John Wiesman.

There are 27 people in Washington who have been diagnosed with COVID-19. There are 21 in King County including eight deaths, and six in Snohomish County including one death, according to the state Department of Health.

“We have not detected COVID-19 cases in counties outside of King and Snohomish, but given the movement of people around our state, it certainly is possible the virus is spreading in other counties too,” Wiesman said.

“It is important for people to remember that most people with COVID-19 have mild illness. A smaller portion of people will have severe illness and that is why we want to decrease the spread as much as we can.”

Inslee joined other governors on Monday in a conference call with Vice President Mike Pence, who has been assigned by President Donald Trump to lead the nation’s coronavirus response.

“Our priority now is to slow the spread of this dangerous virus,” Inslee said. “If we make our decisions based on understanding of natural science — which we are so good at in the state of Washington — rather than unnatural anxiety, we will both allow us to live our lives and get on top of this disease as rapidly as humanly possible.”

Inslee said the state’s public health laboratory in Shoreline has the capacity to test about 100 people per day. The University of Washington is expected to start testing, possibly this week, and have similar testing capacity, he said.

“I’m very pleased that our state acted as fast as possible, ahead of the curve, to build this local capacity where we can do this testing right here in the state of Washington. Our Shoreline lab also has ordered extra equipment so we can continue to build that capacity,” he said.

The governor said coronavirus appears to be “much more dangerous” to those with underlying health conditions. He said those people need to give greater consideration to how much exposure they have to other people.

“They have a lot of opportunities to make individual decisions about that, but clearly those with somewhat fragile health conditions …need to think about the number of times they are going to go out and be close to a lot of folks,” he said.

Inslee said health care professionals advise the easiest way to defeat the virus is to take several common-sense steps:

• Wash your hands often. Wiesman said soap and water should be used for at least 20 seconds.
• Avoid shaking hands.
• When people cough or sneeze, they should cover their mouths or noses with a tissue, throw the tissue in the trash and wash their hands after, Wiesman said.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands, Wiesman said.
• Sanitize frequently touched surfaces.
• Stay home if you are sick. Inslee said he didn’t go to work last Wednesday because he had a cough.

“Sometimes you have to see the consequences of inaction to be convinced. Unfortunately, now that we are seeing fatalities in our state, it would be my hope that people understand how important their individual actions are,” the governor said.

“Not just for their own protection. Even if you are the healthiest dude on the planet, the fact that you don’t go to work when you feel badly means you might save your grandmother,” Inslee added.

This story was originally published March 2, 2020 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Gov. Inslee says people should consider skipping large events to avoid virus exposure."