Inslee defends re-opening plan

OLYMPIA – A defiant Gov. Jay Inslee defended his phased plan to open businesses by so-called "regions" during a press conference last week. "Everybody can have a rational argument against what we're doing, but you can't argue with the results, which is that we are ahead of 45 other states," he said.

According to Inslee, that translates to an extra 8,000 saved lives in the state with more than 700,000 individuals already vaccinated. Inslee's comments come as he finds himself under fire from Republican leaders, multiple counties and their health officials for being lumped – without statutory authority – into so-called regions by the governor.

Several hours before Inslee made his comments Feb. 4, four Senate Republicans announced they were forming a Freedom Caucus to press for fewer restrictions. "Gov. Inslee has a heavy-handed approach and I believe a tremendous infringement on people's personal rights and liberty," Sen. Phil Fortunado, R-Auburn, said. He was joined by Sens. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, Jim McCune, R-Graham, and Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley. The governor's coronavirus restrictions on businesses are "taking the life savings of people that are just trying to run a family business, a family store," Fortunado said.

But Inslee said his regional approach makes more sense that going county-by-county. "The reason we did it this way was two-fold," Inslee said. "First, we've added a new metric of the dynamic activity in hospitalizations and ICU capacity." He added: "If you go to a county-based system, you might close the restaurants in Benton County and open them in Franklin County, a half-mile away."

But that's exactly what's happening with his regional plan, where King, Pierce, Snohomish and Thurston Counties are allowing restaurants to open, but neighboring Kittitas, Chelan, Skagit, Yakima, Lewis, Mason and Kitsap Counties are not. The governor has come under fire from Whitman, Yakima, Whatcom and other counties and their health officials for the lack of science in the plan.

Gov. Inslee also responded to criticism from the Whatcom County Health Board, specifically its concerns over related vaccinations. "These are not random decisions," Inslee said. "As far as allocation, the general goal is to save as many lives in the state of Washington in the fairest way possible, in the quickest way possible."

Because the governor doesn't have statutory authority to create his eight "regions," Democrats supporting him in the Legislature have introduced at least two bills to try to create them before any lawsuits challenge the plan.