New Tri-Cities reopening plan submitted. It steps up plans to fight COVID

Benton and Franklin counties jointly submitted an amended reopening plan to the state of Washington on Friday that increases the steps the Tri-Cities area will take to better contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Benton County submitted an application on June 9 to the Washington state Department of Health to move to Phase 2 of reopening and and Franklin County submitted a nearly identical application the next day.

But a few days later the state agency said it had put the applications “on pause.”

It left Benton and Franklin counties among just three counties in the state — the other one is Yakima — not yet approved to move out of Phase 1. Each phase allows more businesses to open or open with fewer restrictions and increases the gatherings allowed.

Although the state has not said why no decision was made, the two counties were far from meeting key targets, including having too many new COVID-19 cases and not enough testing available for COVID-19 in the Tri-Cities area.

Among the key steps the counties said they were taking in the initial application was a new order by the health officer for the two counties requiring masks to be worn in public places, such as grocery stores.

Wearing masks should help reduce the transmission of the virus, according to public health officials.

State health officials said in a news conference after the application was submitted that they were concerned that too few people in Benton, Franklin and Yakima counties were wearing face coverings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Encouraging masks

The new application proposes increased activities to get residents of the Tri-Cities wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.

But it does not agree to some possible steps suggested by the state, including requiring businesses to require all of their customers to wear a mask and having police break up gatherings of more than 10 people.

The amended applications said the counties would work with Emergency Management to distribute 176,000 cloth face coverings provided by the state.

Benton Franklin Health District will conduct a series of surveys to determine the percentage of people wearing masks, completing the first survey by June 26.

A similar survey was done last month in Yakima, finding that only 35% of people were wearing masks in the stores checked.

The counties will work with Greater Columbia Accountable Communities of Health on a community-wide face covering campaign.

An expert will be hired to provide information to the public on wearing face coverings in multiple languages.

The local health district has reported that of the confirmed cases for which ethnicity is known in the Tri-Cities area, about 48% are in Hispanic people.

Local business associations will be encouraged to support the health officer’s order for masks to be worn in public by encouraging members to post signs about masks. Although wearing masks is ordered by the health officer in Benton and Franklin counties, it is not enforceable.

Other steps include a dozen or more electronic reader boards placed around the Tri-Cities with messages such as “Please Wear a Mask” and “Want to move to Phase 2? Wear a Mask.”

Discouraging gatherings

A news conference will be held with county and city officials to remind the public not to hold gatherings, the amended reopening plans said.

Local public health officials have said there have been large social gatherings, barbecues, protests and people meeting for team sports, including volleyball, soccer and softball games or practice in recent weeks that can spread coronavirus.

Help for agricultural businesses to prevent outbreaks would be stepped up, with proposals being considered that include a comprehensive strategy for outreach to the ag community based on the seasonal crop calendar.

Testing already has been increased.

On Wednesday, drive-thru testing sites operated by the Washington National Guard opened in Kennewick and Pasco. They expect to ramp up to doing 120 tests a day each, five days a week.

However, that may not be enough to meet the state’s targets for COVID-19 testing.

The Benton Franklin Health District may request a third drive-thru site be set up at the Benton County Fairgrounds.

To respond to outbreaks, the health district will be adopting a new protocol that will require increased cooperation in outbreak investigations from businesses.

The local health district also will set up a school task force to help with planning for reopening and how to address school outbreaks.

Franklin County wants cases in inmates at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell removed from its case count. As of Thursday, 91 inmates at the prison had tested positive for COVID-19 and one inmate has died.

This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 7:55 PM.