Coronavirus updates: Changes at Hanford, Tri-City businesses close and hoarders out of luck

The Tri-Cities continued to have no officially confirmed cases of novel coronavirus among its residents on Monday, according to the latest data from the Benton Franklin County Health Department.

But in Eastern Washington there are now 18 confirmed cases.

Statewide the number of confirmed cases jumped from 769 on Sunday to 904 on Monday afternoon. The number of deaths increased from 42 to 48. All but five of the deaths were in King County.

In Eastern Washington, Grant County Health District announced Monday evening that it now has seven cases, four of them not yet included in the state count.

The new cases and additional suspect cases under investigation in Grant County are tied to the communities of Quincy, where an elderly resident died from COVID-19, and Mattawa, where a priest was infected.

The Rev. Alejandro “Alex” Trejo is being treated at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, but is considered a Grant County rather than a Benton County case.

Yakima County has four cases, Spokane and Kittitas counties each have three cases and Columbia County has one.

With the virus almost certainly circulating in the Tri-Cities community, just not detected by the limited testing done so far, work to stop its spread continued.

Hanford was preparing to step up preventive measures, more Tri-Cities events were canceled and businesses from movie theaters to fitness centers were shutting down.

And hoarders were put on notice not to plan to return their stockpiles after the health emergency passed.

Hanford measures

The Hanford nuclear reservation is planning steps to better protect workers from the novel coronavirus.

The Department of Energy environmental cleanup of the nuclear reservation employs about 9,300 people, not counting subcontractor workers.

DOE was expected to announce that as many workers as possible will be asked to telecommute, starting Tuesday. Its contractors are expected to follow suit.

Key leaders and those assigned to oversee work at specific facilities will remain on site.

The site will not be closed because its radioactive facilities, including 56 million gallons of radioactive waste, require monitoring and preventive maintenance.

Contractors also are looking at ways to keep workers further away from each other on tasks that must be done, according to DOE sources.

That could mean splitting some work into different shifts.

Gyms, nail salons, theaters close

It’s not just restaurants and bars that are closing.

You may need to let your hair grow a little longer and find another way to keep fit as businesses from hair salons to fitness centers across the state are closing down by order of Gov. Jay Inslee.

He signed a statewide emergency proclamation Monday to shut down restaurants, bars and entertainment and recreational facilities to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus and the illness it causes, COVID-19, for two weeks.

It could be extended.

The closure includes fitness centers, barber shops, hair and nail salons, theaters, museums and youth clubs or sporting events.

Bluewood ski area near Dayton is closing down immediately, it announced at noon Monday.

Fairchild Cinemas announced through Facebook that their three Tri-City locations would close down at 8 p.m. Monday.

The novel coronavirus was already affecting their business, said General Manager Mamie Gale said. The entire movie industry saw its slowest weekend in 20 years.

The theaters had already stepped up cleaning the seats, tray tables and other places where people touched, Gale said. They also had cut the number of tickets they sold per theater by half.

“Obviously we hate to see something like this happen to any business, but we understand,” said Gale. “It was always in the back of our minds that something this was going to happen.”

For the next couple weeks, they plan to bring in managers to help clean and repair the theaters while the employees will spend the next two weeks without work.

Tri-Cities fitness centers began closing Sunday night and Monday morning in response to the order for recreational facilities.

Columbia Basin Racquet Club in Richland announced it was closing mid morning Monday.

“We are working on providing you access to virtual home workouts in the meantime,” it posted on its online page.

Tri-City Court Club in Kennewick closed Sunday night. There will be no day camp for children of parents who have to work during the six-week school closure.

Its physical therapy services will continue to be provided, since they are considered a medical rather than a recreational service.

It also is will be providing virtual workout experiences.

Other smaller fitness centers and gyms also were closing.

“Despite our highly disciplined cleaning practiced, we have no option but to comply with the governor’s aggressive action,” Orangetheory Fitness in Richland posted on social media.

Visitor restrictions

The Tri-Cities Food Banks are open their normal hours but will be rotating customers through 16 at a time to avoid clusters of people.

Anyone who is not feeling well can should alert staff, but stay outside. An employee will come outside to assess what they need.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office is limiting visits to jail inmates, both for the safety of the community and the office’s staff, through at least the end of the month.

During regular visiting hours on Saturday and Sunday just three visitors at a time will be allowed to use its kiosk machine. The machines will be wiped down before the next visitors use them.

Volunteer programs at the jail also are canceled.

Events canceled, moved on line

Events large and small in the Tri-Cities continue to be canceled.

Columbia Basin College canceled classes on Monday and are moving as many of its courses online, as possible.

The free Hanford Health and Safety Expo, with usual attendance of thousands of people, including many families and also schoolchildren bused to the event. It had been set for April 21-22 at the HAPO Center, formerly TRAC, in Pasco.

In person meetings on the result of the draft report on a federal environmental study of the Columbia River hydroelectric system in Kennewick on Wednesday has been canceled, along with other meetings on it in the Northwest.

The draft study considered whether the four lower Snake River dams in Washington state should be breached, but advised that instead flow should be increased at times over hydroelectric dams on the entire Columbia River system to help with the migration of endangered fish.

Environmental groups are fighting that recommendation, pushing for the final report to offer more aggressive action, such as breaching Snake River dams.

The in-person meetings are being replaced with six call-in meetings, which are not geared toward specific regions.

They will be at 4 p.m. March 17, 18, 19, 25, 26 and 31 at 844-721-7241. Callers will be asked for access code 5998146#.

Callers may make a comment of up to three minutes and listen to other callers’ comments.

Many local government agencies, including some local utilities, are temporarily closing to the public and conducting business by phone or internet. If you have urgent business, call before you stop in.

Some local government agencies also are switching meetings which must be open to the public to on-line or phone-in meetings.

The Kennewick Irrigation District will hold its Tuesday meeting by telephone. The public can call in at 9 a.m. at 914-614-3221 and enter the access code 706-158-169#.

Hoarding taboo

The Washington state Department of Health is urging people not to stock up on more supplies than they need, keeping others from having any.

You could be preventing a sick neighbor, doctor, dentist or emergency responder from getting the hand sanitizer, disinfectant, wipes and other supplies they need, it said.

Don’t plan to return excess items, as stores are limiting them.

WinCo Foods has posted on social media that it will not accept returns on items overpurchased during the coronavirus outbreak.

That includes water, toilet paper, cold medicine, canned goods, dry goods and cleaning supplies, it said.

There is no need to stock up on bottled water, the health department said.

The president of the Washington Food Industry Association, Jan Gee, said that if consumers return to their normal pace of grocery shopping there will be an adequate supply of products.

This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 2:36 PM.