He can't win, but we can

When Gov. Jay Inslee announced Tuesday that he and state public health leaders had decided to go easy considering a dreaded possible rollback to more restrictive public safety measures, no sighs of relief left his critics’ lips, just more grumbling.

After watching case rates rise for weeks, public health quantifiers noted the trend had plateaued, leveled off.

Critics of Inslee’s approach in deferring to public health experts and letting science guide the state through the pandemic, might have been expected to be glad they’d finally come down on the side of healing the economy for once. A coronavirus facing a Pfizer vaccine has a better chance.

“To be clear, pausing Washington’s COVID-19 plan is still an arbitrary change and highlights Inslee’s failed leadership,” said WSRP Chairman Caleb Heimlich Tuesday.

Heimlich was complaining that Inslee had announced a “pause” in the re-opening plan. Never mind that the more widely expected move had been for several counties to be rolled back to Phase 2 and greater restrictions.

Public health professionals also understand that those restrictions hurt real people. They don’t recommend them lightly, and when faced with data that suggested more “safety” might impose more harm, the decision was to err on the side of economic recovery, a first at this point in Washington’s fight against the virus, we’d guess.

The pause is for two weeks. Locally, that means Grant County has a slight reprieve to bring its case rates down, currently about 150 percent of where they need to be to avoid a rollback.

So, while you’re enjoying Colorama this week, keep that safety in mind. Luckily, it’s a festival that’s almost completely outdoors, thereby made safer in this time. And the chamber of commerce is asking for full cooperation as they put on a festival to celebrate spring like none of us have for what may seem like forever.

Despite politicians grumbling and using divisive language, have a good time. Be safe. Smile. Have a nice Mother's Day. We’re about to win this thing.

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher