Gov Inslee Continues Economic “Pause” Til July 28th

Gov. Inslee began his conference Tuesday by stressing the Mask Up Open up campaign, claiming Yakima County case numbers and hospitalizations are dropping due to the mandatory mask effort.

He, as he usually does, tempered the good news with news that the pandemic is "growing" in our state. And he said "we do not intend to yield" to it.  He said other states have been forced to close their businesses where they have been "overwhelmed" by COVID.

 Inslee said his economic pause on re opening the economy will continue through July 28, no counties will be allowed to be allowed to move up in Phases til at least then.

Inslee claims, using his charts including his favorite "R-Not" charts, that reportedly show how many people that are "exposed" or infected by already positive tested persons.  He said in western WA it is 1.5, meaning for every person who has the virus another "half" person gets it. Both Eastern and Western WA are over "1" claims Inslee.

He called it the "danger zone."  He said we are "heading for big trouble" if we don't figure out how to knock this down. He also said a growing number of cases for persons in their 20's. However, he failed to mention that younger persons have been largely asymptomatic.

He also said he talked to various college and university leaders this week, and said they gave him a lot of ideas for how to help younger persons, especially finding ways to ensure schools continue to educate.

He said we know that public health matters, and will determine what happens this fall. He said he is going to continue to remove live entertainment and bar top service. He said people should not be surprised by more possible rollbacks, unless people wear masks and practice social distancing.

He then tried to spin some good news, but it was not anything that a business owner or worker would really find useful. He gloated about the change of policy of  rescinding international students from being evicted from our colleges and universities.

He also chimed in on the Washington Reskins name, saying it was a "hurtful" name and insulting to tribal members and leaders.

To watch the press conference for yourself, click on the buttons below.