The Bainbridge Island Review site has lifted the paywall on this developing story to provide readers with critical information. To support vital reporting such as this, please consider a digital subscription (https://www.bainbridgereview.com/subscribe/). This story first appeared in the April 24 print edition of the Bainbridge Review.
“You can do it.”
The smallest among us are sharing some of the greatest guidance.
As the COVID-19 crisis continues to wear down Washington, and the prospects of a return to something that somewhat resembles normalcy begin to fade, our ability to stay strong is being tested.
Clouds of discontent — protests and public vows of disobedience — are intruding into what has been a climate of cooperation.
Earlier this week, in a televised address to Washingtonians, Gov. Jay Inslee urged us to persevere, to remain committed to the stay-at-home isolation that will snap the deadly spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
COVID-19 will be with us beyond May 4, the expected end date of “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” restrictions, he said.
“We are going to have to steel ourselves against this virus for quite some time,” Inslee said.
Bainbridge’s strength in the struggle remains solid, however, and it’s been on display in the letters and notes Island youngsters have sent to those leading the fight against COVID-19. Be brave, have courage.
Hearts for healing
What’s the color of courage?
It’s a question that students at Captain Charles Wilkes Elementary have been trying to answer.
And what they’ve learned is that right now, in this time of COVID-19, courage has more than one color. And it includes royal blue, black and jade.
As part of the annual exploration of character traits at Wilkes, students have been learning about courage and bravery.
“At Wilkes one thing we do we pursue different character traits,” explained school counselor Sue Constan. “It’s really cool in the sense that there’s a lot of support from our principal and our teachers to do deep dives into character.”
This year’s look at character traits, the points on one’s personal compass, was actually going to have a different destination.
“Originally this spring we were going to do creativity. All of sudden things changed and we were we schooling at home,” Constan recalled.
Prompted by the COVID-19 outbreak, a new trait took center stage, one that would focus instead on the aspects of courage and bravery.
It’s an all-school lesson, involving children in every class. In previous years, traits such as curiosity and perseverance have been explored.
“I always talk about character traits as superpowers,” Constan said. “The more you focus on character, the more it grows within yourself.”
“The coolest thing about character is that it focuses on the positive. So often in counseling we’re working with kids who are struggling, and elementary school is really such a good time to focus on those character traits that are really like superpowers.
“Courage during this time is definitely a superpower,” she added.
The focus on character is also done as an all-school, hands-on project. The library is involved, as well as arts instruction and sometimes music.
“They approach character from different modalities,” Constan said.
For this year’s lesson on courage, Constan created guidance lessons that the teachers sent home, including a video of school librarian Tamra Hauge reading the book “Courage” by Bernard Waber, and “reflection questions” that parents could ask their kids.
The questions included ones about doctors and nurses, and how they were showing courage or being brave.
Maria Kuffel, the psychologist/early childhood coordinator at Wilkes, has a personal connection to the COVID-19 crisis. Her husband Matt is a nurse on the COVID-19 treatment floor at Harrison Hospital.
The idea emerged to have students write to nurses and doctors on the front lines of the fight against the disease, with the idea of sending courage to them.
“And so we put it out there for kids to start writing letters, and they sent them to Maria, then Maria started sending them to Harrison,” Constan said.
Students from Captain Johnston Blakely Elementary, where Kuffel is also a school psychologist, also joined in and the letter campaign grew so much that they began sending letters to other hospitals, as well.
Wilkes kids also started sending artwork in addition to their letters to the front-line healthcare workers.
“It’s kind of a hands-on way for our kids to think about courage and send courage to people who are really showing courage in their work right now,” Constan said.
So far, the students have created nearly a hundred messages of encouragement. The last of the letters and pictures are being collected this week.
Matt Kuffel recently shared some photos of the reception to the “Hearts of Courage” that were sent from Harrison Hospital; one shows a large group of nurses and the medical staff, in their face masks and black, jade and blue scrubs, holding the inspirational letters. Behind them, a wall is filled with more letters and messages of courage.
Constan said letters and pictures have also been sent to Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington hospitals, and clinics in Seattle and Gig Harbor.
The response from the medical teams from the notes and pictures, Constan said, was they “brightened their days and made them cry happy tears.”
As part of the effort, Jill Queen, the school’s art teacher, also created an art lesson with the theme of “hearts for our community.”
Students have been making hearts to display in their windows at home or in the family car, Constan said, “to let our neighbors know we are all in this together.”
Eventually, many of the hearts will be joined together to create a banner to hang outside the school.
“It’s the whole idea of putting it out there and saying, ‘Have courage,’” Constan said.
“The way we get through this is we share our courage, and we’re there for each other,” she said.
Now hear this
It’s not exactly smooth jazz.
Instead, consider it as kind of a clarion call for community.
Jeannie Grassi has been stepping out on her condo balcony at Winslow Green every evening at 7 p.m., saxophone in hand.
What comes next is a few notes into the night. Not a song or a melody, just short and hopefully more sweet than sour.
Don’t blame the skills of the musician; it’s more the limits of the instrument.
Grassi has lived in her downtown digs since 2017. But it’s been an off-and-on existence at Winslow Green, the housing/mixed use development next to the city’s downtown public courtyard. Grassi lives in the unit above the condo that was destroyed in a fatal fire just a year ago in Winslow.
Damage from the two-alarm fire to the complex pushed Grassi out of her home until just a few weeks ago.
It was then she decided to try to help connect the residents in the building, which is a mix of condos, apartments, seasonal residents and full-time islanders.
“I’ve been gone for almost a year and had just moved back in,” she explained. “I had vowed all year that I would make Winslow Green more of a community rather than just separate entities living side by side.”
She also wanted to create a contact list of neighbors and residents, given what she had lived through the night of the blaze.
“When I was trapped in the fire I couldn’t reach anyone,” Grassi said, recalling how she called 911 three times but didn’t get an answer.
Outside her window, she could see the flames from the home below roaring over her balcony.
“Flames were blocking my view and I couldn’t tell if anyone knew what was going on,” she recalled. “I thought, this is ridiculous: I have nobody to call and warn about it and nobody to call and ask for help.”
When she moved back a month ago, she decided to change that. She started putting together a contact list with the phone numbers and emails of those who live in her complex.
Joining the neighbors together for a nightly chat was a new twist, Grassi said.
Now, each night, she’s out on her balcony with her sax, inviting the community to come out for a neighborly hello.
“They keep telling me to play something every time I try,” she laughed.
But the sax is a bit too damaged from the fire. The pads are all dried up, she said, and it’s not in very good shape right now.
The few notes she can manage come out more like squeaks.
“It’s mostly like a bugle call to get them to come out,” she said.
Still, it’s working. Some folks come out every night, and Grassi noted a woman in her 80s who couldn’t hear well from her place, so she has been coming down to the parking lot and joining in from the street level.
Grassi, a former music teacher, learned to play the saxophone in the seventh grade. Some folks on Bainbridge know her as the local piano tuner.
She decided to use a saxophone for her nightly nudge because she thought the sound would carry the farthest of the instruments she has left that made it through the fire.
“It was either that or get my fiddle out. And nobody can hear that and nobody wants to hear that,” Grassi laughed.
Still climbing
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Kitsap County rose to 141 this week, the Kitsap Public Health District said Tuesday.
No new cases were reported Wednesday, and the Review went to press before new figures were released Thursday afternoon.
On Monday, the number of coronavirus cases in Kitsap stood at 139.
The two new cases involve a resident of Central Kitsap, and a resident of Bremerton.
Of the 141 cases, 39 have been reported in Bremerton, 36 in South Kitsap, 29 in North Kitsap, 26 in Central Kitsap and 11 on Bainbridge Island.
The first confirmed case of coronavirus in the county was reported March 8, and was a person from Bainbridge Island in their 60s.
Outside the law
With public officials in Franklin and Snohomish counties saying they won’t abide by the governor’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order, Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson released a joint statement Wednesday saying those officials were putting people’s safety at risk.
Earlier this week, the Franklin County Board of Commissioners voted to allow businesses to reopen, in direct conflict with Inslee’s stay-at-home mandate.
In Snohomish County, Sheriff Adam Fortney said he would not enforce the governor’s order and called it unconstitutional.
The political posturing followed public protests in Washington and other states over the past week by people calling for an end to stay-home restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Inslee and Ferguson, in their statement, said Franklin County officials had been contacted and told they must follow the state’s emergency orders.
“It is disappointing when elected officials promote illegal activity that puts their community’s well-being at risk,” the governor and attorney general said in their statement.
“People’s lives are deeply impacted by this crisis. We are working hard to turn the tide on COVID-19 and begin lifting restrictions. These decisions are guided by science. Our priority is keeping Washingtonians healthy.”
“In both Franklin and Snohomish counties, the prosecutors have informed our office they agree the state’s orders are legal,” they added. “The Snohomish County sheriff and the Franklin County Commission are misleading business owners and individuals in their jurisdictions, putting people’s health at risk and potentially putting them on the wrong side of the law.
“These orders are legal, and they are working. Do not be misled by local officials who encourage you to risk your health and violate the law. Please continue to take care of yourself, your family and your neighbors,” the statement concluded.
Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Adam Cornell, in a supporting statement, said elected officials must uphold their oath of office.
“Like our citizens, I share in the earnest desire to return to normalcy. But we are a nation, state and a county of laws,” Cornell said.
“Like Sheriff Fortney, and other law enforcement and elected officials, I swore an oath to uphold the laws of the state of Washington, not just the laws I agree with.”
“The constitution and laws of the state of Washington are crystal clear. In times of emergency the governor is vested with the responsibility, duty, and authority to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of our state. Any attempt to undermine that authority is both irresponsible, unhelpful in these difficult times, and contrary to the rule of law,” he added.
Washington state has 12,494 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 692 deaths from the disease as of 11:59 p.m. April 21.
Snohomish County has been particularly hard hit, with 100 deaths and 2,188 confirmed cases of coronavirus. There have been four deaths, and 212 COVID-19 cases, in Franklin County.
Let the music play
Sounds like an experiment.
And that’s exactly what it’s going to be.
The organizers of Seabold Second Saturday, the monthly acoustic extravaganza that was put off after the coronavirus outbreak — like most cultural events on Bainbridge — will restart their concert series next week, online.
David Hager is calling it “Seabold Music in Exile.”
The concert will be a phone-in affair for fans and musicians alike, on Zoom, starting at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 25.
“We will run the show more or less as usual,” said in an email to friends of the Seabold show. “I will be the electronic MC for the show. If it works, we can do it on the Second Saturday of May if needed.”
The link to the show is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7491667939?pwd=M2M5R2YwZStvb2RmTWZmNUZmZzBSdz09 (Meeting ID: 749 166 7939; Password: 56520).
“Have no expectations. It may work well, flop, or be so-so,” Hager said in his announcement. “Bring your own cookies. Or whatever.”
COVID-19 claims second life
A second person in Kitsap County died from COVID-19 this week, the Kitsap Public Health District announced Tuesday.
The person who died was an older adult with underlying health conditions, health officials said.
The first fatality from the coronavirus in Kitsap County — an older adult who had tested positive for COVID-19 and had underlying health conditions — was reported April 6.
As in the first death, Kitsap health officials would not say where the person who passed away this week lived, or when the death occurred.
A call for history
There are historic times.
And the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum is making sure to preserve some pieces of it.
Museum officials note that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Bainbridge community is unprecedented, and has changed the way we work, socialize, shop, study, communicate and play.
“At the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum, we recognize our unique responsibility as the historians of this moment in time. We are actively documenting and collecting materials related to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic experience on Bainbridge Island,” museum officials said in a quest for historical donations this week.
The museum is asking for photographs, personal items made or purchased to adapt to the COVID-19 quarantine, and visual or written creative expressions about the pandemic.
Residents are also being encouraged to document and share stories about their family’s experience during the pandemic.
People who have items to donate to the museum’s collection can email Director of Exhibits & Engagement Merilee Mostov at merilee@bainbridgehistory.org.
The museum is reminding residents that it remains closed to the public, so drop-off materials are not being collected at this time. Also, replies to individual emails may be delayed for up to two weeks due to the volume of the responses.
Hurry up and wait
In a televised address Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee warned the restrictions of his “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order won’t likely change much before May 4.
He said he understood the desire for people to return to work.
“Businesses want to unlock their doors again, and tell their regulars, ‘We’re back.’”
And when the order is modified, he added, it won’t be a dramatic return to the way things were.
“It will look more like a turn of the dial than a flip of the switch,” Inslee said in his speech. “We’re going to take steps and then monitor to see whether they work or if we must continue to adapt.”
Some restrictions — including social distancing requirements — may be in place for weeks or months to come, the governor said.
“We will not be able to lift many of the restrictions by May 4,” Inslee warned.
Inslee said the data on hands shows that if all restrictions were lifted, now or even two weeks from now, the decline in COVID-19 cases “would certainly stop and the threat of COVID-19 would go up,” he said.
The impact of lifting the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order would be “disastrous,” he said.
“The health of Washingtonians is our top priority,” the governor said, and noted that the state’s recovery depends on widely available testing for people who may have COVID-19.
Inslee said he expects to see additional health modeling on the spread of COVID-19 in the coming days, which may allow the state to begin lifting some restrictions.
More testing is needed, however.
“The nation is solely lacking test kits,” he added. “The governors are not wrong on this.”
Washington has more lab capacity than test kits, and currently, only 4,000 tests a day can be completed.
Inslee said that number needs to rise to 20,000 to 30,000 tests a day.
The state will provide guidelines for businesses when parts of the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order are lifted, he added.
Physical distancing, teleworking and other measures will continue to be necessary to keep workers and customers safe.
“Until we have a COVID-19 vaccine, workplaces are going to look much different,” Inslee said.
Daily life will be affected for months, and the coronavirus may come back in future waves, he warned.
“We have simply got to redouble our efforts to protect the most vulnerable among us,” he said. “We are going to have to steel ourselves against this virus for quite some time.”
Asking for help
The governor’s televised address followed a request to the White House for more federal help on COVID-19 testing.
Inslee sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence asking for a robust national testing system in response to the coronavirus crisis.
President Trump has repeatedly said testing should be handled at the state level, but governors across the country have said testing kits and related supplies have been in short supply.
“We share your goal of a safe return to normal social and economic activity over time. Individuals, families, businesses, and communities are counting on leaders at all levels to work together to ensure this process is carried out in a manner that keeps the public safe and minimizes the risk of viral resurgence. This recovery can only happen safely, however, with the assurance of a strong national testing system that does not exist today,” Inslee said in the April 21 letter.
“Our testing is only as strong as its weakest link. On April 20, your Administration provided governors with a list of in-state laboratories in an attempt to illustrate states’ apparent existing capacity,” Inslee added.
“But this does nothing to answer the repeated calls from governors to address the lack of swabs, viral transport media, reagents, and other supplies and personnel needed to take advantage of that lab capacity.”
Inslee said Washington was working to procure 2.5 million test collection kits to support optimal testing levels.
“But we are nowhere that today,” Inslee added in the letter. “Just as a driver cannot travel their full distance on a quarter-tank of gas, we cannot unlock the full capacity of our labs without additional testing supplies and infrastructure from the federal government.”
In the letter, Inslee asked the federal government to take steps that would include the establishment of an at-home testing program, as well as additional surveillance testing and the use of the Defense Production Act to ensure an adequate supply of swabs, viral transport media, reagents and other supplies.
Inslee also asked that additional surveillance testing be conducted nationally to “probe for hotspots, focusing on states with lower levels of testing.”
“I look forward to further cooperation with your office to build the national testing resources that will allow a safe and responsible economic recovery,” he concluded.
Long wait for vaccine
Inslee’s address to Washingtonians Tuesday on television was underscored by the Washington State Department of Health this week, which said the months ahead would see a “slow, measured relaxation of our physical distancing interventions.”
“Even with a slow, phased re-opening of the state, we are likely to see COVID-19 spike again. We may open our doors, only to close them again in a matter of months,” the department said in an update Tuesday.
Effective treatments for the coronavirus, or a vaccine, will be needed “before we can stop dialing up and down the physical distancing interventions,” agency officials added.
In the best case scenario, the Department of Health said a possible vaccine is still a year to 18 months away.
Closed, but still connected
Though the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center remains closed, and all in-person activities at the gathering place have been put on hold since March 13, the center is still working to keep its connections with seniors.
Outreach and support efforts have turned to email, streaming video, and social media. And the phone.
“Like many of faith communities, churches, synagogues, and our friends over at Island Volunteer Caregivers, we have fielded a team of a couple dozen people who are making regular calls to check up on people,” said Reed Price, executive director of the center.
“We have sort of a glorified phone tree to make connections with as many of our members as we can,” Price explained.
The center is also hosting a daily online video call, using Google Meet, a video conferencing app.
The daily video get-together has featured a series of topics, ranging from the latest books that people have read or what’s good now on Netflix.
Price described the chats as “just over-the-back-fence discussions on how you’re making do.”
They’ve also hosted guest speakers and experts, on both serious and light-hearted topics.
“It’s just an excuse to get together every day for a virtual cup of coffee and look at each other’s faces,” Price added.
The call is at 11:30 a.m. daily Monday through Friday. About 20 people join in on the daily call, Price said, and it’s open to the public. (A link to the call is on the center’s website at biseniorcenter.org.)
This week’s schedule included “Writing with Sue Barrington,” “Earth Day with Ann Lovejoy,” and “KRL’s John Fossett on Fake News.”
“We’re just trying to make a hybrid of using the tried-and-true of calling people up on the phone,” Price said.
More than a half-dozen of the groups at the center still meet, but not in person.
Iris Eimon, the director of the Evergreen Singers, has been sending out a weekly email to its members, he added, with music files attached or a link to YouTube, to keep the group singing from the same page.
Other groups also continue to meet, with some using Zoom video conferencing, including the Astrology Group and the Reader’s Theater.
Sessions are also ongoing for the French Conversation Club and the Spanish Club.
Instructor Helen Heaslip continues to give her morning exercise class, but on YouTube.
“She’s teaching from her living room,” Price said, and has 35 subscribers so far.
He noted the center is still being used for Meals on Wheels deliveries, which reduced its visits to Bainbridge to once a week, at noon on Thursdays (those who have signed up in advance for meals can get up to five frozen meals on the delivery day).
The center also started a jigsaw puzzle exchange a couple of weeks ago.
People can drop off a puzzle to share, which are then set aside for a week before they are made available for use.
There’s currently a stack of a couple dozen boxes of puzzles ready for check-out.
“It’s been quite a transition,” Price said.
Before the COVID-19 shutdown, the center was seeing about a hundred visitors a day on average.
“And now none of that is going on,” he said.
Grab & Go
You’ve got to hand it to them.
The Bainbridge Island School District said this week it has served more than 18,000 Grab & Go meals to students since schools were shut down in mid-March.
The first day of meal service was March 18, and district officials said a total of 18,778 Grab & Go meals have been handed out through April 20.
Meals are being distributed at Ordway Elementary at lunchtime, and was changed to four days instead of five days earlier this month to help limit staffing on-site due to the Stay at Home order.
On Thursdays, students are given two meal packs — one for Thursday, one for Friday.
Local food is also on the menu.
This week’s menu included pizza from That’s A Some Pizza and greens from Butler Green Farms.
‘Elder Wisdom’
The Bainbridge park system is looking for some seasoned views of our troubled times.
The Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District has launched a project called “Elder Wisdom.”
Sue Barrington, the district’s active adult program manager, is gathering essays from islanders who are 60 and older on the COVID-19 crisis and the park district hopes to publish a local compilation of the contributions.
Islanders can submit a 100- to 150-word essay, written as a first-person narrative, on their reflections during this historic time for Bainbridge and beyond.
“You’ve seen, experienced, and thought a lot about life — your voice is of value to our community, now in a uniquely vital way!” the district said in its announcement.
(For questions, submissions, or phone enrollment, call Barrington at 206-388-8303 or email sbarrington@biparks.org.)
Uptick at the tollbooth
Washington State Ferries has seen a slight uptick in the number of people and vehicles coming aboard ferries in the past week.
Ridership across the ferry system rose to 131,206 passengers and vehicles in the seven days from Tuesday, April 14 through Monday, April 20.
During the previous seven-day stretch, from Tuesday, April 7 through Monday, April 13, ridership totaled 115,827.
That’s a one-week increase of 15,379 passengers and vehicles.
The Bainbridge Island-Seattle route has also seen a rise in riders over the same time period.
Ridership on the route in the seven days from Tuesday, April 7 through Monday, April 13 was 15,370 passengers and vehicles.
In the following seven days, ridership climbed by 1,333 to a total of 16,703 passengers and vehicles.
Bainbridge ferries carried 6,080 passengers April 7 through April 13.
In the span between April 14 through April 20, a total of 6,734 passengers came aboard the boats, according to statistics provided by WSF. That’s an increase, though modest, of 654 passengers in a week.
Nonprofits on the edge
A total of 56 nonprofits took park in a recent COVID-19 needs survey conducted by the Bainbridge Community Foundation.
Foundation officials said an extended shelter-in-place order in Washington could mean some local nonprofits would likely have to shut down operations.
“Our community is more dependent on the nonprofit sector than we may realize,” said Jim Hopper, executive director of the Bainbridge Community Foundation.
The foundation’s survey found that nonprofits that are focused on culture and arts are in a particularly difficult position, because donors are most inclined to give toward urgent social service needs.
While some nonprofits on the island have applied for funding from the federal government following the passage of the CARES Act, results have not been positive.
“Several nonprofits have applied for this funding, though some have already been declined and others find themselves in a queue, so we’re not sure how the landscape will look a few months from now,” Hopper said.
“It’s likely that donors will be asked to help support local nonprofits this spring, and again this summer and fall to keep operations going,” he added.
A third of the agencies that took the survey were dedicated to providing health, housing and human service; with another 20 percent of the participating nonprofits devoted to arts, culture and humanities endeavors.
When asked how the COVID-19 outbreak had affected their organizations, responses ranged from full closures, cancelling or suspension of programs, reducing services, furloughing staff, to working online, if possible.
“We have had to cancel all of our public activities that has resulted in a loss of revenue,” noted one nonprofit.
“Our operations have been mostly shut down or limited to informing via email, or social media,” added another.
“Officially send all employees home on administrative leave from March 18 – April 30,” another nonprofit noted.
According to the survey, approximately 75 percent of the nonprofits polled said they had furloughed or laid off employees.
Those that hadn’t are taking drastic steps: “We are draining our reserve to retain staff,” one reported.
The numbers of people out of work ranged from zero at the low end up to 60.
Many of those polled said funding for operational support was needed.
“We are on track to lose $2.5 million by August even after cutting expenses in half,” noted one nonprofit.
“We are burning through the cash reserve that we have worked for 10 years to build. It will have to be replenished, but we are determined to stay afloat,” another added.
“We are not able to hold fundraising events, so our annual budget and planned income is in jeopardy,” reported another.
When asked about their confidence in their organization’s “ability to sustain in light of the current ‘shelter-in-place’ ordinance that was ordered by Governor Inslee,” approximately 30 percent said their organizations would not survive if the shutdown lasted six months.
And more than 60 percent said their nonprofits would likely survive, but still face significant challenges.
“We will run out of funds to operate,” said one.
“We will lose our location … which would likely end the program,” added another.
On the city’s radar
At last week’s meeting of the Bainbridge Island City Council, City Manager Morgan Smith said the city is considering changing its prior agreements with local nonprofits to allow them more flexibility in how they can use previously approved city funding.
Smith has been in contact with a couple dozen of the city’s funding partners, which are roughly split between human service providers and cultural organizations.
She said there has been some talk of organizations that received city funding for events and programming shifting that money to operational support.
“For some organizations that’s very helpful, because either their regular donations are down, or their grant funding is down, or their event just isn’t going to happen, or the program is very different because their doors are not open,” Smith told the council.
Any changes would not include revisions to the funding amounts previously approved by the city.
“This is the here and now, versus maybe some middle and longer term strategies that we want to look at down the road,” Smith explained.
“A lot of these organizations are in a tailspin,” she added. “And it’s not clear yet how we best use city resources to help the most people in the most meaningful ways.”
Funding that has already been approved for nonprofits in the current two-year cycle comes from the city’s general fund.
Any changes under discussion, Smith said, would not include funding requests that have been awarded through the city’s lodging tax revenues.
Outrage in Olympia
Washingtonians angry over the governor’s stay-at-home order converged on the state capital Sunday to call for an end to the lockdown.
Media reports estimated the crowd — which included some carrying American flags, Gadsden flags and Trump banners — numbered roughly 2,000 and included three Republican lawmakers, including one from Granite Falls who called for a revolution if people couldn’t go fishing.
The demonstration was held on a day when the spread of COVID-19 in Washington state hit 11,790 confirmed cases, and 634 deaths, from COVID-19.
The day before the protest in Olympia, officials at the Department of Health urged Washingtonians to stay home and not attend.
“We are in the midst of a pandemic and these are unprecedented times,” said in an email. “The Department of Health urges people to NOT take actions such as gathering that can threaten everyone’s health and safety, including our most vulnerable people who are higher risk of death from the virus.”
“Large gatherings will quickly undo all of the benefits we have gained over the past month through physical distancing. We encourage people to follow Governor Inslee’s proclamation to stay home and stay healthy,” the department said.
In a statement to the media, Inslee said he hears every day from people who want to go back to work and re-open their businesses.
“Most of them are doing what must be done first to accomplish that: They’re staying home,” Inslee said.
“These are difficult and frustrating times. I understand the urgency of this crisis. However, this is not the time to halt the progress we have made. I encourage everyone in our state to stay home, stay healthy and, if you need to go out, practice adequate physical distancing,” he added.
Inslee also criticized those who were politicizing the stay-at-home mandate.
“Comments in the news today by some Republican legislators calling for ‘open rebellion,’ claiming a ‘deep state’ plot and other radical statements are irresponsible and could needlessly lead to more people getting sick. I hope Republican legislative leaders will speak out against such rhetoric from their members,” Inslee said.
“I support free speech. But crowd counts or speeches won’t determine our course. This isn’t about politics. It can only be about doing what is best for the health of all Washingtonians,” he said.
The demonstration in Washington followed similar ones in other states.
Testing site closes
The drive-up COVID-10 testing site at the Washington National Guard Armory in Bremerton was closed late last week.
The site, first used from April 8 through April 10, was reopened April 14 for those who needed tests.
That included anyone with COVID-19 symptoms, healthcare professionals, first responders, police and people who work in long-term care facilities and essential businesses such as grocery stores and pharmacies.
Douglas E. Bear, of the Kitsap County Unified Emergency Operations Center, said 252 tests were administered.
During its entire time of operation, the testing site conducted a total of 360 tests.
The test kits came through an offer to the Kitsap County EOC from the State EOC/State Health Department, said Kitsap Public Health District Administrator Keith Grellner.
The test kits were part of a Community Based Testing Site (CBTS) package, Grellner noted, and the Emergency Operations Center operated the test site through a contract agreement with the state.
The text kit package came from the federal government, and supplies were limited.
Grellner said the CBTS package came with 2,500 test kits.
After the closure of the testing site, officials planned to do an inventory of remaining supplies, including test kits.
This week, Grellner said, Kitsap’s Emergency Operations Center and the Kitsap Public Health District were expecting to start taking requisition requests from local healthcare providers for the remaining supplies.
“The health district will alert local healthcare providers of the requisition opportunity, and intends to spread the remaining kits around to as many local providers as possible, so quantities will be limited,” Grellner said.
Reduced sailings continue
The cutback in ferry sailings announced in late March has been extended into June.
Following Inslee’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order, Washington State Ferries adopted announced a reduced service plan for central Puget Sound ferry routes.
These reductions in sailings, which cut in half the number of sailings between Bainbridge and Seattle, started Sunday, March 29 and were originally expected to stay in place through April 25.
WSF said Monday that the reduced sailing schedules will now remain in effect through June 20, at least.
Lights shine for Class of 2020
Friday Night Lights came back to Bainbridge High School.
Not in the usual sense, however, of the promise of a big football game.
Instead, BHS joined schools across Washington in the #BeTheLightWA movement and turned on the lights at the Spartans’ football stadium last Friday night.
The lights at BHS Memorial Stadium flooded the football fieldat 8:20 p.m. to honor the seniors in the Class of 2020, who had their season cut short due to COVID-19 outbreak.
With the BHS campus currently closed, however, the venue wasn’t open for students or others to stand in the glow of the show.
Instead, the Bainbridge Island School District encouraged families on the island to participate at home (while maintaining social distance guidelines) by standing outside at 8:20 p.m. and shining a flashlight (or cellphone light) into the night’s sky to honor the Class of 2020.
New benefits claims drop
New claims for unemployment benefits dropped in the most recent statistics provided by the Washington State Employment Security Department.
The new figures, for the week of April 5 to April 11, show there were 143,241 initial claims — and 585,983 total claims — for unemployment benefits in the state, according to the Employment Security Department.
Officials said that while initial claims declined 16 percent from the previous week, it was still the third highest weekly number on record and five times more claims than the peak week during the Great Recession.
Total weekly claims are now the highest on record.
In Kitsap County, the number of new claims totaled 3,905 in the week of April 5 to April 11.
The week before, there were 4,860 claims filed in Kitsap.
State employment officials also noted that the Employment Security Department paid out $125.9 million to 265,798 unemployed workers during the week of April 5 to April 11, a $45.6 million increase from the previous week.
“This past week, we provided more unemployment benefits in a single week than any other week in the history of Washington state’s program. More than a quarter of a million of our friends and neighbors received a total of $125 million last week alone,” said Employment Security Commissioner Suzi LeVine.
“And, since the crisis began, the total has now topped a quarter billion dollars. But we know that many more are awaiting that same relief,” she said.
“We are taking many steps to help get people their benefits,” LeVine added. “Among those steps is the rollout of the new federal CARES Act provisions that dramatically expand eligibility for unemployment assistance, increase the weekly benefit amount by $600, and extend the time available for unemployment assistance by 13 weeks.”
Since the start of COVID-19 outbreak job losses the week ending March 7, the department has paid out nearly $272 million in benefits to Washingtonians.
Officials noted that self-employed workers, independent contractors and other workers who are not traditionally eligible will now be able to apply for unemployment benefits. As a result, the Employment Security Department expects to see an even larger surge of claims in the coming weeks.
Industry sectors experiencing the highest number of initial claims during April 5-11 were:
• Manufacturing: 33,337 initial claims, up 20,364 initial claims from previous week;
• Construction: 17,291 initial claims, down 7,103 initial claims from the previous week;
• Retail trade: 15,911 initial claims, down 4,597 initial claims from previous week;
• Health care and social assistance: 12,783 initial claims, down 6,679 initial claims from previous week; and
• Accommodation and food services: 11,233 initial claims, down 6,784 initial claims from previous week.
