Saying we're happy we have a "very inexpensive and effective tool" to defeat the COVID virus, Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday in his press conference that it's working.

He said we are taking the next step in our Mask Up Open Up campaign.

In the next couple of days he will sign a proclamation, beginning Tuesday business will not be legally allowed to serve customers without a mask, statewide.

He said we're doing this because of an "extremely troublesome spike" in cases of COVID.  He then went through the data, his 'science', showing the "troublesome" progress of the virus in our state.

He claimed we are not alone in the states experiencing this in the US.  He said cases are increasing statewide. He claims cases are rising to the levels seen previously in April, before they dropped until now.

He showed a graph with six counties, including Franklin and Yakima, showing supposed return of peaks in June-July.  He claimed the virus was knocked down by people doing "painful things" including closing economy.

He referred to another graph from the Institute for Disease Modeling, which he has relied heavily on. Inslee also claims increased testing is not due to more testing, and he claims it's due to more interactions between people.

He then said there was some good news, saying the mask can be the key. He said it doesn't cause "too much hassle" other than strapping it across our faces.

The cringeworthy moment actually came from Benton County Commissioner Jerome Delvin, who at the 41:19 moment in the press conference referenced a stop he made at a Circle K to get a soda, and he talked about the one person in line out of 20, a woman, who did not have a mask and she looked rather shy and hurried out, he thought because she didn't have a mask.  He made a clear reference to what appeared to be shaming. wow...!

Delvin also took up where Inslee had left off, when he earlier talked about a modified phase for B-F County.  Apparently we're getting some sort of Phase 1.5, but no specific details or ideas were mentioned in the conference. More information supposed to be coming.

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

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