Coronavirus updates: Inslee issues additional guidance on funerals
This page includes coronavirus developments around Washington state for Sunday, March 29.
Updated at 3:50 p.m.
Gov. Jay Inslee said Sunday that Washington state still has a shortage of coronavirus testing kits and again suggested the shutdown of most businesses and extreme social distancing would likely have to be extended to fight the disease.
Inslee appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Washington has been testing more people for COVID-19 recently, but the governor said it lacks some necessary materials to do more.
“Things as simple as the swabs. When the little vials -- when you put the swab in it to send it to the lab, it needs a particular medium in it to preserve it. We just do not have those simple things,” Inslee said.
Inslee said the two-week stay-at-home order he issued, which began March 25, would likely need to be extended or the disease would “continue to spread like wildfire to every single corner of my state.”
“We are seeing some very modest success in bending that curve just a little bit, but that’s very unpredictable,” he said on CNN. “And we have a long, long ways to go. ”
Updated at 3:15 a.m.
Pierce County reported 36 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday.
That brings the county’s total to 317 positive cases of the 5,299 tested the by University of Washington virology lab and the state Public Health Laboratories since the outbreak began. About 6% of residents tested have tested positive.
The county reported one death on Sunday of a North Pierce County man in his 60s with an underlying health condition. Pierce County has now reported six total deaths.
Inslee announces additional guidance on funerals
Updated at 8:25 a.m.
Gov. Jay Inslee announced additional guidance on Saturday related to the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” proclamation to slow the spread of COVID-19. Inslee also sent a government-to-government letter to Washington’s tribal communities.
In partnership with the governor’s office, the Washington State Department of Licensing sent additional guidance to funeral homes and cemeteries today.
The letter from DOL reads, in part:
“As your licensing agency for mortuary services, we provide the following guidance. Licensed funeral homes and cemeteries may conduct funeral services in a funeral home or graveside under the following conditions:
▪ Funerals are only attended by immediate family members of the deceased.
▪ The family members in attendance must maintain proper social distancing, defined by the Centers for Disease Control as staying six feet apart.”
The proclamation does not prohibit embalming.
Inslee also sent a letter that provides further instruction on real estate transactions. The letter reads, in part:
“While real estate activities along with mortgage lending activities have been approved as essential activities under the Proclamation, such activities shall only be permitted under the following restrictions and limitations:
▪ In-person meetings with customers are prohibited except when necessary for a customer to view a property or sign necessary documents;
▪ No real estate open houses shall be permitted;
▪ Property viewings, inspections, appraisals, and final walk-throughs shall be arranged by appointment and limited to no more than two people on site at any one time, exercising social distancing at all times; and
▪ Except for the limited exceptions authorized above, all new real estate listings shall be facilitated remotely.”
Inslee sends letter to tribal governments
Updated at 8:25 a.m.
Gov. Inslee aso sent a letter to tribal governments throughout the state yesterday, as part of government-to-government communications. The letter reads, in part:
“First, none of my Emergency Proclamation orders apply to conduct on tribal lands. Tribal governments, as sovereign nations, are making their own decisions in response to the current COVID-19 emergency.
“Second, constituents have presented several questions to my office regarding individuals who commute to tribal lands or Washington businesses that work on tribal lands. While I have defined essential activities (for purposes of Emergency Proclamation 20-25) in Washington, tribal leaders maintain sovereignty to define essential activity on tribal lands.”
CenturyLink Field to host military hospital amid virus
Updated at 8:25 a.m.
A military field hospital for people with medical issues that are not related to the coronavirus outbreak is under construction at CenturyLink Field, which is home to the Seattle Seahawks.
Three hundred soldiers from the 627th Army Hospital at Fort Carson, Colorado, have deployed to Seattle to staff the hospital, which is expected to create at least 150 hospital beds for non-COVID-19 cases. The facility, described as a life-saving Army medical hospital, will be ready to start seeing patients in just a few days, officials said.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and King County Executive Dow Constantine, along with FEMA Region 10 Administrator Mike O’Hare and Brigadier General Doug Cherry and others discussed the plans Saturday afternoon at a news conference.
“We know that this Army field hospital will be critical and will reduce the burden on hospitals here,” Durkan said. ”The military is here to help, not take over. They are here to help because they know Seattle needs it.”
O’Hare thanked those in the private sector, including CenturyLink and others who have reached out to share resources. FEMA has designated $100 million to the military to boost medical services in Washington in response to the outbreak.
Inslee called the hospital a “tremendous step by the federal government,” and said he was appreciative while also adding that this will not be enough and that more federal help is needed as coronavirus cases rise throughout the state.
Olympia converts Martin Way building into emergency homeless shelter
Updated at 8:25 a.m.
The city of Olympia is converting a vacant building on Martin Way into an emergency homeless shelter for the duration of the new coronavirus outbreak, officials say. Thurston County plans to contract with local nonprofit Interfaith Works to run the temporary shelter.
The vacant building sits on property the city purchased with Home Fund revenue in 2018 that’s slated for a joint venture by the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) and Interfaith Works.
Under the plan, the LIHI would develop and manage 65 units of supportive housing, according to the city’s web page on the project. Interfaith Works would operate a 60-bed shelter there, replacing the nonprofit’s 42-bed shelter in the basement of First Christian Church in downtown Olympia.
That plan calls for demolishing the one-story building that will, for now, be used as the emergency shelter.
The added shelter space is needed because established area shelters have had to reduce the number of occupants to comply with government-mandated social-distancing guidelines meant to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
Four area shelters — Interfaith Works, Family Support Center, Olympia Union Gospel Mission, and Community Youth Services — have lost a combined 37% of their shelter capacity under the guidelines, according to Keylee Marineau, Homeless Prevention and Affordable Housing Coordinator for the county.
State, federal government pushes funding to hospitals to support COVID-19 response
Updated at 8:25 a.m.
State and federal funding is being made available to support hospitals in preparing for an expected increase in COVID-19-related expenses,
“Our hospitals—particularly smaller and rural hospitals—provide a safety net for vulnerable populations, and we must ensure they remain financially viable as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Health Care Authority Director Sue Birch said in a statement.
“As they are asked to delay elective procedures and experience other unprecedented disruption to their work force and their operations, we continue thinking creatively about how we can provide the resources they need to serve Washingtonians with high-quality, dependable care.”
The dollars HCA is making available are either new funds or expedited existing funds. They include:
▪ Supplemental hospital payments to several rural health care facilities around the state. This payment is to assist them in their COVID-19 response, and comes from the state Disaster Response Account.
▪ Pay remaining fiscal year disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments for qualifying public hospitals, and eligible low-income and small rural hospitals. This expedites more than $46 million in funding to hospitals throughout the state.
▪ Pay remaining Critical Access Hospital Safety Net Assessment payments for state fiscal year 2020. This accelerates more than $2 million in state hospital safety net funding to 19 critical hospitals. Critical Access Hospitals are small hospitals in rural areas that serve residents that would otherwise be a long distance from emergency care.
Washington also worked with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to design an expansion of its accelerated/advance payment program for Medicare participating health care providers and suppliers, such as hospitals.
CMS is expanding the program for all Medicare providers throughout the country. The payments can be requested by hospitals, doctors, durable medical equipment suppliers and other Medicare Part A and Part B providers and suppliers.
This story was originally published March 29, 2020 at 8:27 AM with the headline "Coronavirus updates: Inslee issues additional guidance on funerals."
