Inslee Presser 11/24/20 – More Rapid Efficient Enforcement Coming

At the end of the day, it's not fair to the businesses who are complying with the latest round of restrictions to lose out to those who choose to stay open. That's why violators can expect more rapid and efficient enforcement as the state is streamlining the monetary punishment process.

Gov. Jay "Jester" Inslee held court again today, and over the course of the hour-long presser, he said the pandemic is raging and he's impressed with how fast it is moving.

He put up a graph where the current trending curve was almost vertical, disclosing that 6000 cases have been reported in the state over the last three days. It is alarming and stunning, he said, about how fast the pandemic is moving and that the time is now for aggressive action.

Hospitalizations are near a pandemic high, it's basically as bad as it was in March, and in some places, exceeding those levels from the earliest days of coronavirus.

Several hospitals in the state are planning on curtailing elective procedures due to crowding. One doctor who joined the press conference on Zoom said non-essential does not mean it's not important to you, but for now please don't overwhelm facilities with more patients, or, as Gov. Inslee put it, "We cannot have people dying in the parking lots of our hospitals in the state of Washington." Ten percent of patients who contract COVID-19 will have lifelong complications because of the disease.

The governor mentioned more than a few times how exceptional of a state Washington is  quoting a survey piece in today's edition of The New York Times that says Washington has the highest percentage of people who were acting safely. Comparing over 2000 households, we have the most residents per capita acting appropriately. We're #1! We're #1!

It is something Gov. Inslee says we should be proud of: Washingtonians are the smartest because we have the highest compliance. He says it's a combination of 7 million collective decisions doing the right thing that can beat this dreadful disease.

Gov. Inslee mentioned good news about a vaccine for COVID-19, it could be available as early as mid-December, the 14th is the target date, but that might change. Active plans are already in place for the distribution of the vaccine when it becomes available. Medical professionals will be first to get the vaccine followed by high risk patients and on down the line.

Help will be here in a relatively short period of time, but not for the majority of state residents, probably not until the middle of 2021. Gov. Inslee said he'd like our state to be in better shape than most across the country when it comes to mass implementation, and the next few weeks will be critical.

He said he has heard the sound of crickets from Republicans in response to a question asked about why eastern Washington voices or other voices that are more compelling than just Democratic lawmakers from the west side are not being presented or being considered in shaping policy at these press conferences. He said he welcomed any and all help, but he basically dodged the entire issue about eastern Washingtonians, pivoting quickly instead to criticize President Trump.

Other than the medical information, the most compelling part of the presser was during the Q and A afterwards, when Gov. Inslee said the state will get better in ways to shorten the process of fining businesses who don't comply. More rapid enforcement is on the horizon because they're going to be going after violators with increasingly efficient vigor. Oh, violators, increasing enforcement is coming.