Thurston County declares local emergency, prohibits events with 250 people or more
Gatherings of 250 or more people are now prohibited in Thurston County in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, following a resolution passed by the county Board of Health Thursday afternoon. Events with fewer than 250 people are required to follow specific social distancing measures.
This comes a day after Gov. Jay Inslee announced public gatherings and events of more than 250 people will be banned in Pierce, King, and Snohomish counties.
“Some people might say we’re jumping ahead, but I don’t really want for us to wait to have 68 cases or even 17 cases, like Pierce County, before we take these kinds of actions,” Dr. Diana Yu, who was appointed interim Public Health Officer this week, said at the BOH meeting.
The resolution includes the Capitol Campus, Yu and County Manager Ramiro Chavez confirmed with The Olympian after the meeting. It does not impact schools, Yu said, which are still directed to have contingency plans in place in case the situation gets worse.
If a crowd of 250 or more gathers, it’s a misdemeanor, Yu said, but she said the county is counting on the public to follow the new orders, which are in effect until March 31 unless extended.
“We’re in this together,” Yu said.
According to the resolution, gatherings with fewer than 250 attendees are prohibited unless organizers take these steps:
Encourage older adults and individuals with underlying medical conditions that are at increased risk of COVID-19 not to attend;
Meet social distancing recommendations, such as limiting contact between people within six feet of each other for 10 minutes or longer;
Screen employees for coronavirus symptoms each day and exclude them if they have symptoms;
Make proper hand hygiene and sanitation readily available to attendees and employees; and
Follow environmental cleaning guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The resolution came shortly after Thurston County commissioners declared a local state of emergency and the day after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the county was discovered. As of noon Thursday, that case was still the only confirmed in the county.
The local emergency declaration will allow the county to make emergency purchases, activate the county’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan, and streamline other actions needed to respond to the spread of COVID-19.
For example, if county Emergency Services wanted to order surgical masks in bulk, it would normally need two weeks of lead time to procure those, Director Kurt Hardin told The Olympian. Now, since the county can meet for COVID-19 related issues without a long-term public notification, that process would be able to take place within a day.
Both resolutions passed unanimously.
“It’s not time to panic, it’s time to be careful,” Yu told The Olympian.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 2:10 PM.
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