COVID politics punishes Whitman County

Whitman County was placed in Phase 2 restrictions three weeks ago and we waited for a return to Phase 3, but now that isn’t going to happen.

Gov. Jay Inslee chickened out.

Facing a massive rollback to Phase 2 for Western Washington, meaning Seattle, Everett, and Olympia, he announced his decision to take a two-week pause on changes to counties’ COVID restrictions. Instead, all 39 counties in Washington will continue with their current phase designation.

It means Whitman County remains stuck with Phase 2 restrictions until future notice.

If the COVID phase designations were about health concerns and science, the state would have reviewed the metrics and made appropriate changes. Whitman County could have been moved to the easier restrictions under Phase 3.

Inslee was facing a decision to put his voter support base of urban Western Washington into the tighter restrictions of Phase 2. They would be as unhappy as people living in Whitman, Pierce, and Cowlitz counties.

He can’t have that. They might make more autonomous zones and revolt against him and his political party.

So, Inslee chickened out.

All of the efforts locally to get more people vaccinated didn’t matter. Washington State University (WSU) went so far as to require everyone returning to campus in Pullman to have COVID vaccinations.

But, Inslee showed community efforts and metrics don’t matter. Votes do.

The simplest logic is the area with the most people having increased illnesses, is the area needing tighter restrictions to slow the spread of COVID. Seattle has more COVID than Colfax, Tekoa, and Palouse combined.

Instead, Inslee chickened out.

He appears to have based his decision on politics. Inslee can’t make Democrat voting counties face tighter restrictions like Whitman County. That would be crazy.

– Bill Stevenson, Whitman County Gazette editor.