La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

Friday afternoon the Skagit County Board of Health asked Gov. Jay Inslee and Washington Department of Health Secretary John Wiesman for a variance from the state’s Start Safe Plan criteria to allow Skagit County to move forward to Phase 2 “today, and by June 1 at the latest.”

The Board’s May 22 letter followed Gov. Inslee’s May 19 announcing moving to Phase 2 of the Safe Start Plan required meeting the benchmark of fewer than 10 new cases per 100,000 residents over a 14 day period for counties with populations over 75,000. Skagit County needs to have no more than 13 new cases over 14 days to apply for variance.

On May 22 the state Department of Health listed 65 for the County’s total case count from May 3-17. Skagit County Public Health lists 10 total cases from May 10-24. The County’s test site at Skagit Valley College tested 874 people last week, May 18-22, averaging 182 tests daily. No in-county positive cases were found. No countywide total of people tested in readily available.

“We are doing far better than certain state Department of Health metrics would suggest,” said Skagit County Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Leibrand in a May 22 statement. “For example, we have been and will continue to do robust contact tracing and case investigation. We also have the testing capacity and hospital availability in place to safely move to Phase 2. Continued progress toward this goal requires us to wear masks wherever we go – this would substantially reduce transmission.”

The County offers nine points for being prepared with a “robust public health infrastructure” supporting Phase 2 approval, that they “urge” the governor and secretary of health to weigh “more heavily in the reopening metrics.”

The County’s list mirror’s the state’s application for a variance, which requires plans for:

• Making testing available and accessible to everyone in the county with symptoms.
• Staffing case investigations and contact tracing.
• Housing people in isolation or quarantine who can’t or don’t want to do so at home.
• Providing case management services to those in isolation and quarantine.
• Responding rapidly to outbreaks in congregate settings.
• Counties must also demonstrate they have adequate local hospital bed capacity as well as adequate PPE supplies to keep health care workers safe.

have made the case they meet the variance criteria,

The County requests that its more complete data are used in state analysis, that the County’s “epidemiological estimates are closer to 5%” while the state reports test results almost three times higher, 14%.

The state’s May 22 update recognized that 11,000 negative lab results have not yet been entered into its data system and “27% of negative test results do not have an assigned county. These two issues are impacting some counties disproportionately, including Skagit and Whatcom. The impact is an artificial elevation of the percent positive in those counties. DOH is working to resolve these two issues.”

The Board of Health’s three page letter ends “Sustained closures and a continued emphasis on a lack of public health readiness undermines trust in our local public health system at a time when it is needed most

In their Friday statement, county commissioners stressed the readiness of the county’s public health system and their concern for the economic health of local businesses. Commissioner Ken Dahlstedt worried that “Skagit County businesses and residents can’t survive under these prolonged closures. If the Public Health Department feels that we can safely move to Phase 2, then I fully support that. They’re the experts in our local situation.”

Public Health Director Jennifer Johnson stated, “Our Public Health team is already proactively connecting with businesses to ensure they understand and have what they need to reopen safely using good physical distancing and hygiene. We’re ready to move to Phase 2 which allows for additional limited activities.”

The County packet included letters from the County’s Unified Command of the County’s health director and sheriff and Mount Vernon fire chief; the mayors of the eight cities and towns; and the five municipal and tribal chiefs of police, sheriff and regional state patrol captain.

The County Board of Health includes the county commissioners, Public Health Director Jennifer Johnson, Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Leibrand and Dr. Connie Davis, from Skagit Regional Hospital.

Gov. Inslee’s Safe Start Plan, introduced May 4, laid out a four phase reopening, with the state staying in each phase for a minimum of three weeks. Modifications have provided variances to counties with populations of less than 75,000.

By May 22, 21 counties had been granted variances to move into Phase 2

The state will stay in every phase for a minimum of three weeks. During that time, the Department of Health and the Governor will re-evaluate the above indicators and determine if the state should remain in the current phase, advance to the next phase or return to the previous phase. No phase will last less than three weeks before moving to the next phase, in order to allow one complete disease incubation period plus an additional week to compile complete data and confirm trends.

Phase 2 does not totally lift restrictions. Many portions of Stay Home, Stay Healthy must remain in place. Practice good physical distancing, wear a mask in public and wash your hands frequently with soap and water.

At press time, following the Memorial Day holiday, state officials had not responded to the County’s request.