Masks required to be worn in public as Tri-Cities ask the state to reopen more

The Benton Franklin Health District officer is directing people in the Tri-Cities area to wear face coverings in public.

Dr. Amy Person issued the directive to take effect Monday, June 8.

It’s part of the health board’s decision Thursday to prepare applications to the state to move to Phase 2 for business reopening in both Benton and Franklin counties.

“With greater freedom comes greater responsibility,” she said. “Issuing this directive will help bolster our commitment to safely advancing to the next phase of the Safe Start Washington plan.”

Both counties have too many new cases of COVID-19 to meet state targets to move from Phase 1 to Phase 2 of the Safe Start program to help contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The counties need to show the state that the local communities are taking steps to reduce the number of new cases, said Dr. Person.

There will be no penalties for those who do not wear public face masks, she said.

The local directive is in addition to a state order enforced by the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries requiring employees of businesses in the state to wear masks when interacting with coworkers or customers. The state order also starts June 8.

The Tri-Cities area directive will apply to indoor public places, including grocery stores and other businesses, as well as outdoor settings such as farmers markets where maintaining six feet of distance may be difficult.

It is similar to directives issued in Yakima, Spokane, King, Thurston, San Juan and Whatcom counties, some of them before successfully applying to the state to move to Phase 2, Dr. Person said.

She is urging people to wear nonmedical masks that cover both their nose and mouth. Cloth masks, scarves and bandannas are acceptable coverings.

Face coverings can help prevent the spread of infection to others by blocking infectious droplets that can spread when someone coughs, sneezes or speaks, according to local public health officials.

People can be infected with the coronavirus and be contagious before symptoms develop or even if symptoms do not develop.

“Evidence suggests a significant number of infections may be transmitted in this way,” according to a statement from the Benton Franklin Health District.

Exceptions to the directive to wear face coverings include children, people with disabilities, deaf people who read lips and those whose health care providers recommend against it for health reasons.

District officials asked people to practice compassion and understanding for individuals who cannot use face coverings.

The health district has posted more information on the directive to wear face coverings at bit.ly/MaskDirective.

State applications

Benton Franklin Health District employees plan to work through the weekend to prepare the applications for each county to move to Phase 2, which includes compiling detailed data about cases, testing and hospital capacity.

The applications should be ready for Benton and Franklin county commissioners to approve next week. County officials will submit them to the state and should get a decision in about a week.

Both counties are currently in Phase 1, although the majority of counties in the state — 33 of 39 — have been approved for Phase 2 or Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Safe Start plan.

If Benton and Franklin counties are approved for Phase 2 both can resume more construction, open more stores, open hair salons and allow dine-in eating at 50% capacity in restaurants and bars.

Inslee announced last Friday the more flexible and less stringent plan to allow counties to move to Phase 2 to reopen businesses, giving the Tri-Cities area hope that it could be approved to reopen more businesses.

The new Safe Start plan sets targets for counties to meet, but allows them to make a case for what actions they could take to show they could safely reopen even if they don’t met targets.

Among the targets that Benton and Franklin counties cannot meet is having no more than 50 new confirmed cases in two weeks in Benton County and no more than 24 in less-populous Franklin County.

State data shows Benton County had 160 confirmed cases in the last two weeks of May and Franklin County had 146 cases. The local health district says cases have spiked during the first week of June, rather than declined.

Despite the high case count, the counties can make a logical case for moving to Phase 2, said Dr. Person.

The decision on whether to reopen more businesses needs to consider not only the least damage in terms of the spread of the infection, but also the social, emotional and economic impacts on residents and the well being of the community as a whole, she said.

“I think we are seeing more people in despair and that is hindering their ability to change and to do the things we need to do to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” she said. “If we can give them hope and a safe path forward I think they can be more successful in making those necessary changes.”

The county now is seeing individual behaviors that increase the likelihood of the spread of infection, including people working while they are sick, gathering in large groups and not wearing face coverings when they are near non-household members, she said.

Opening more businesses may not significantly impact the infection rates in the Tri-Cities area, she said.

Dr. Person urged community leaders, including the six county commissioners who make up the local board of health, to demonstrate through their words and actions that they are committed to taking steps that could move the Tri-Cities area to Phase 2.

Benton County Commissioner Shon Small said that wearing masks is the right thing to do and it is not about trying to take away the rights of residents.

“The bottom line is we are trying to do everything we can possible to open up operations within both counties so we can actually start getting our economy going, along with supplying services people so desperately need, and, of course, working in a safe manner,” he said.

If the two counties are approved to move to Phase 2, but large numbers of people don’t wear masks, the counties will end up back in Phase 1, said Franklin County Commissioner Bob Koch.

“It is going to be an effort,” he said.

State officials have said that counties that backslide after being approved for Phase 2, can be ordered to return to the restrictions of Phase 1.

This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 4:19 PM.