Governor Inslee Meets With Local Officials in Response to NCW COVID Outbreak

Governor Jay Inslee met with local elected and public health officials on Tuesday in Wenatchee due to North Central Washington being considered a COVID hotspot. Governor Inslee noted both the progress North Central Washington has made in combating COVID-19, thanks to masking up in businesses, as well as what measures need to be tightened up to mitigate the spread, such as consistent socializing.

"What we're finding is, we're having good compliance in our retails stores and our businesses, but unfortunately folks are forgetting about that in their social lives. They're socializing too close, too often without masks," said Governor Inslee. "That's one of the significant reasons we continue to see this pandemic really raging in Chelan and Douglas county."

Governor Inslee also shared implementations from the state level to help the two county area continue improving such as contact tracing and testing being ramped up.

"We've increased testing, we called in the National Guard to help run some sites. We've brought in teams of epidemiologists to come over and help build a more robust and coordinated effort on the contact tracing effort," said Governor Inslee. "We're also doing a communication initiative to communicate to people how to protect themselves. We're doing this in the Spanish language, as well as the English language."

Chelan-Douglas Health District health officer, Dr. Malcolm Butler, also spoke at the Tuesday press conference. Dr. Butler echoed Governor Inslee's request for folks to remain socially distant and be mindful of how many are gathered in a social setting.

"There has to be a big step forward or we're not going to be able to control this pandemic," said Governor Inslee.