Critical days ahead. Tri-Citians must not let Labor Day lead to COVID surge | Editorial
If Tri-Citians aren’t careful, Labor Day weekend could put us back to the coronavirus starting line.
And with all the progress we’ve made so far to bring our COVID-19 numbers down, a big setback would be not only dangerous, but demoralizing as well.
It is crucial we all do our part to get through the next few critical days.
Earlier in the summer our region was shamefully among the highest in the state for COVID-19 infection rates. But, as a community, we have since pulled it together.
More people are now wearing masks in public and following precautions set out by health officials to slow the spread of the disease.
The extra effort has seemingly paid off, sending our COVID-19 numbers tumbling. We are finally on a downward slope, with Dr. Amy Person, health officer at the Benton Franklin Health District, calling the cascading trend “impressive.”
Even Gov. Jay Inslee noticed the progress, and recently lifted some of the earlier restrictions that had been imposed on the community. Now restaurants are able to offer limited inside dining options, and church services can be moved indoors if state guidelines are followed.
And the biggest news is that the Tri-Cities is getting close to the point where kids might be allowed to physically attend school in a limited capacity instead of receiving all their instructions online.
This is the first week of school, and many parents and teachers are already finding the online system a challenge to manage.
Offering distance learning was the wise option, and Tri-City school boards made the right call. But the sooner we can get students connected with their peers and their teachers in a traditional school setting, the better — even if it is only for part of the week.
The greatest obstacle to this goal is how people handle the upcoming Labor Day weekend. Traditionally, the September holiday marked the end of summer and the last chance to take that one final trip before school schedules and winter weather take over.
This year, especially, with so many vacations and activities postponed, we understand that people want to get away. For some people’s mental health, they might desperately need to get away.
The concern is that after the pandemic struck last spring, every big holiday like Mother’s Day and the 4th of July led to huge surges in COVID-19 cases because people couldn’t resist getting together in large groups.
As we all should know by now, the coronavirus is insidious. People can have the disease and not know it. These unsuspecting spreaders can then infect many others and before you know it we have a raging outbreak again.
Just look at what happened recently at Washington State University. Even though classes are being offered online, many students returned to live in Pullman for the year as they originally planned.
WSU officials encouraged students to stay home, but hundreds of them arrived in the small college town anyway.
Within a week of school starting, the number of coronavirus cases in Whitman County nearly tripled, making it one of the highest growth rates in the nation. College parties were to blame, especially those on Greek Row.
Pullman police are now fining people $250 for throwing parties, and Whitman County residents are at risk because of the bad decisions made by students who took a chance and got together with friends.
It wouldn’t take much for Labor Day gatherings to ruin all the progress our community – and our state – has made in slowing the spread of COVID-19.
We all must take extra care this weekend to do what it takes to keep COVID-19 at bay. People might take holidays, but the coronavirus does not.