During COVID-19 briefing, county officials say new South Snohomish County test sites coming

Dr. Chris Spitters

A warning from the Snohomish County COVID-19 briefing on Friday: Social distancing will last months and could remain in some form for years.

Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers also spoke out on Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney’s Facebook post earlier this week, calling Fortney’s comments: “dangerous and irresponsible.” In a Facebook post Tuesday, the Sheriff urged quicker action to reopen the county, and reiterated his position that he will not enforce “stay home”orders.

Somers reiterated the view of many elected officials and health experts that the stay-at-home restrictions imposed by Gov. Jay Inslee are working, and that the county must not loosen up without sufficient protective measures in place. “Those that call for disregarding those orders just need to stop it,” he warned. To open up now “would cost lives; people would die,” he said.

The county’s chief medical officer, Dr. Chris Spitters, said limited new test sites — which will be clinic-based — will open soon in South Snohomish County. Appointments will be taken for next Wednesday and Friday, and will be available from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday. Slots will be opened up on Monday, April 27 for April 29, and on Wednesday, April 29 for May 1.

The county said that more information will be released on Monday, including location details and updated registration links. Staff are also finalizing details for east and north county locations that will be available in early May. Updates and information will be available at www.snohd.org/drive-thru-testing.

Spitters said the county is averaging about 2,500 tests a week, but that testing capacity is still affected by the limited availability of kits, swabs and personnel to give the tests.

He announced that county data continue to show a slowing of the coronavirus outbreak; and that rates of infection look promisingly lower. The job now, he insisted, is to implement “incremental steps, not giant leaps,” as the county plans for recovery. Spitters also outlined what a “safe and healthy path to a new normal looks like.”

“We all want to resume our normal or near-normal social and commercial lives and occupations and business and get our economy and just our world back up and running as soon as possible,” he said, “but we are just not there yet.”

Kim Williams

He warned that until there is an effective vaccine “intermittent social distancing may be necessary for at least two years or possibly longer.”

Kim Williams, CEO of Providence Health and chair of the new county Future Workforce Alliance, said the group is working on “concrete plans to get people back to work; and that it will be a phased, gradual approach.”

Providence is the county’s second largest employer. She was asked whether Boeing, which just restarted Everett production lines, had been in contact with the task force. Not yet, she said, and Dr. Spitters echoed that. But, Somers said he talks with Boeing daily.

All three said the key now is to make sure the county’s actions don’t trigger a resurgence of the virus. “Our goal,” stated Spitters,“is to suppress the virus and delay the next outbreak.”  Current forecasts show that next outbreak could come as early as late summer and last into the fall.

— By Bob Throndsen

 

 

  1. Yay for Adam Fortney!! We don’t need more social experiments with our businesses, our health, our economy. If this virus was as contagious as they claim, all the Amazon, post office, hospital staff, grocery stores, financial services, and gas station employees (among many others!) would be ill by now and many dead. Look around you people. It was here long before we knew it, long before some of us isolated.

    1. We don’t know anything about this disease yet. The best scientists in the world are learning as they go, day by day. Do you know more than they do? Would you rather be inconvenienced or dead?

    2. Seriously Rachel – stay put! Have you read about the COVID blood clotting complication?https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/22/coronavirus-blood-clots/ We are all like Jon Snow – we know nothing and it is better to be cautious. That is what our Governor is doing, he is leading us with great caution so that fewer of us die. Don’t make yourself, your family and friends into a deadly “experiment” – stay home and be patient. We will get there all together.

    1. Will someone please explain why many other States are NOT complaining about what they DON’T have, but instead are moving forward with SOLUTIONS. All I hear is Gov. Inslee, whining about this and that. Why doesn’t he stop and tell the people of our state what he is doing? Be transparent. I do not need someone else thinking for me. He has asked us all to “Shelter in Place” Well, the least he could do, is give us the common courtesy of real facts….real solutions… All of the vagueness makes me think he doesn’t have a real plan. He seems to be waiting for others to help and blaming others for his shortcomings. Stand up and be a LEADER. So far I am very dissatisfied and extremely disappointed in our Elected Officials.

      1. Thanks to the excellent leadership of our Governor Inslee (who actually cares about the people he governs) we have been successful in flattening our curve and closer to starting our journey towards recovery.

        Christine, If you want to point fingers may I suggest taking a look at the Disinfector in Chief? He crippled us by frittering valuable response time, failing to provide for adequate federal medical stockpiles; failing to provide a timely, cohesive federal response, promoting bogus “medical” treatments all with the result that of all the countries in the world, we have the highest number of infections and the highest death rate: “Make America Dead” (MAD). I don’t think that was the actual intention but it is the result.

        If COVID doesn’t kill us, ignorance and incompetency will. And I don’t mean Inslee.

    2. Fortney is not being a team player. Imho, he has violated his oath of office and is shamelessly attempting to garner political points at our expense, an expense that is literally calculated in terms of life or death. He should resign or be recalled.

      America is at its best when we band together and take care of one another in spite of all that is unknown, all that is uncertain. Since the coronavirus outbreak began, we have seen a renewed sense of interdependence and mutual care rise up from all corners of our nation and our community. We will save ourselves if we work together on a macro – micro level. Non-team players need to get out of the way because time is of the essence.

  2. “Social distancing will last months and could remain in some form for years,” jumps of the page, hidden by the headline, then just below the fold (I guess scrolling a screen in an online paper counts as below the fold), “until there is an effective vaccine intermittent social distancing may be necessary for at least two years or possibly longer.” In the history of vaccines, I am unaware of an effective one.

    It light of current events, it was erie watching Dr. Suzanne Humphries today on a whim as she talked about the nationwide small pox concerns which followed 9/11. Watch her lecture on the efficacy of historic vaccines at https://youtube.com/watch?v=DkNmMHyWGNg/

  3. I feel endangered by Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney’s reckless and deliberate refusal to enforce the Governor’s stay-at-home order. If he can not fulfill the duties of his office he should resign or be recalled. In his scant four months in office he has consistently displayed not just poor judgment but an astonishing disregard for public safety as evidenced by his dangerous remarks in his Facebook posting and his deeply disturbing hiring decisions. He is too dangerous to be in office and we have all seen what this type of belief system and behavior looks like on a national level.

    1. Agree 100% Terry! He is a rogue sheriff on a power trip.

      Just shy of 4 months in office . Guns, religion, his own personal gain are all he cares about.

  4. I do not understand some people’s ignorance on this virus. South Korea and the United States had their first case on the same day. Thursday they had EIGHT new cases when the US had about 33,000 new cases. Response matters, action matters. Oh, and since we have 7 times more people than South Korea multiply their new cases by 7. So they had 54 new cases to our 33,000 to compare apples to apples.

  5. Sheriff Fortney is a coward. Rather than pursuing a legal challenge to the governor’s orders in court, and risk losing, he claims the right to decide for himself what is legal and what is not. He’s simply afraid to do what’s right for the citizens that he is supposed to protect and serve, because a vocal minority of fools flood him with complaints and threats of violence against any attempts to enforce an action they don’t agree with.
    We have a court system consisting of people WE ELECTED to address these tough questions. Use it.
    Threats to take the law into your own hands are Un-American and violate everything we stand for. If Sheriff Fortney and other members of law enforcement don’t agree they should resign.

    1. Agree with you Jim Coulter. If resignation is not forthcoming he should be recalled. I am personally #FEDUPWITHFORTNEY.

  6. Dale Drogseth, South Korea’s population (2018) was 51.64 million. Their current number of cases is 10,618. Percent is .00020755. US population (2019) is 328.2 million. Current number of cases is 50,439. Percentage is .00015368. Thus, the per capita ratio is smaller in the US than in South Korea.

  7. Jeanne Park. It appears you mistakenly stated the number of U.S. deaths, which is now near 54,000, as the number of U.S. cases. The number of U.S. cases is now near 940,000.

    1. There is also the question of reported cases vs actual total cases. Without testing everyone, it is impossible to know the true case number – and what percentage of testing in various countries varies greatly, making accurate comparisons of totals difficult.

  8. It seems to me like Sheriff Fortney is being his own worst enemy by taking the possibility of arrest off the table for blatant violators of going back to work recommended standards during the national emergency he will have to help deal with by virtue of his current position. He would have been much better off to have just remained silent while he is employed by the people as an officer of the Court. When he returns to being an ordinary citizen, which looks like may happen sooner than later the way he is going, he by all means can and should speak up about his constitutional beliefs. When you become a member of the military or civil law enforcement, you become subject to the general rules and discipline of the chain of command. In some circumstances you may feel the need to disobey what could be an illegal order, but you better be really sure you are right before you speak out.

  9. I disagree. I appreciate the sheriff. There is no law on the books that state you can arrest people in parks or going to church. He gets that.

  10. Thanks Joy, many of us “get it” and support Sheriff Fortney’s decision. If you are elderly or have health problems stay home; if you are a worker or have a business and want to return to your job to support your family you should be allowed to do so. My opinion is that all businesses are “essential” to someone. All workers are “essential” to someone.

  11. CHristine you are exactly right. Maybe it’s because 75% of those tragic life support victims are male. For some reason woman are not affected as bad and recover quicker. Maybe this has to do with that?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Real first and last names — as well as city of residence — are required for all commenters.
This is so we can verify your identity before approving your comment.

By commenting here you agree to abide by our Code of Conduct. Please read our code at the bottom of this page before commenting.