Dispatch from Washington State: Doubling Down on Failure

 

Here are some news items from the State of Washington and the City of Seattle; please note that the state and city are run by Leftists through and through.

First, items relating to the pandemic.  Two weeks ago, our Dictator closed all state restaurants for inside dining, closed gyms, and reduced capacity allowed at all indoor retail establishments, including grocery stores for a 4-week period.  This was a response to “surging coronavirus cases” in the state.  Please also note that the Dictator is issuing these rules from his desk, with no input from the elected state legislature.

“Catastrophic loss of medical care” possible if Washington’s Covid-19 numbers skyrocket”

Please note the use of the word “possible”.  The article makes use of the word “could” also.  Not “will”, but “could”.  Weasel-words.  And the headline is designed to instill fear and panic in the population, so:

Covid-19: Inslee warns of more restrictions if state can’t contain surging virus.

The dictator says: Do what I say, or else I will Lock You Down Again. This is a threat to double-down on failure. The first massive lockdown in the spring did not stop the virus. The state mask mandate did not stop the virus. The mask mandate continues, with more restrictions added two weeks ago. That did not stop the virus either. What was that old saying about “The beatings will continue until morale improves”? How about some visible effects from all the rules, restrictions, and lockdowns?

Pandemic pushing more small, local businesses to brink of closure

Cost of Survival: Seattle small biz tackle pandemic and property damage from civil unrest

And, in response: Mayor Durkan, critical of city council, says she will sign 2021 budget

That budget slashes the Seattle Police Department by 20%. Those small businesses pushed to the brink will have to contend with the pandemic, and riot damage, without police to respond. I wonder how many of those small business owners in Seattle voted for Durkan and all those council members.

And here is the full text of an article on school closures. The government response to the pandemic has contributed to loss of schooling for all state public school students, hurting low-income students hardest, since they are less likely to benefit from online instruction (due to lack of broadband internet and adequate computers at home). Bolded text mine.

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington state health officials are considering changing the disease metrics that guide school district reopening decisions during the pandemic.

The Seattle Times reports the changes, if adopted, mean up to half the state’s 300 school districts would meet the benchmark to start educating their youngest learners in person at least part time.

Under the state’s current reopening guidelines, which aren’t legally binding, school districts are advised to educate students remotely unless their county posts a coronavirus infection rate of fewer than 75 cases per 100,000 residents over a 14-day period.

The draft changes to those guidelines would increase that threshold to 200 cases per 100,000.

Now, what are State Health Officials doing making Public School Policy?  Education is manifestly NOT their area of expertise!  The so-called public health officials are blameworthy for helping to ruin a generation of Washington’s children, and dooming them to a reduced earning capacity as adults.

Just this past week, three entities working on vaccines for the Wuhan Coronavirus have said that their vaccine works very well to prevent infection.  They all said that they have requested approval, and the federal government has said that there might be at least one or more vaccines available by mid-December.  This may or may not be good news.

Poll: Many people insist they will not get a Covid-19 vaccine

In that poll, up to 39% of respondents said that they would not take a vaccine if offered.  I wonder what the Dictator will do then.  Stay tuned for more loss of Liberty. On the other hand, maybe residents of Washington State will not notice or care.  They have already given up a goodly amount of liberty and re-elected their Dictator.

[originally posted at RushBabe49.com]

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  1. WillowSpring Member
    WillowSpring
    @WillowSpring

    Hard to like, but thanks for these reports “from the front”.

    • #1
  2. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    RushBabe49: Dictator says: Do what I say, or else I will Lock You Down Again.

    Sadly, Democrats (and some Republicans) have gotten drunk on emergency powers . . .

    • #2
  3. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    I have for a long time been starting that the constitution is a wonderful historical document but not really in effect anymore.  Seem to me that this pandemic bs should prove it if one was willing to look.  We now live in a banana republic.  Laws are the whims of the powerful.  

    • #3
  4. American Abroad Thatcher
    American Abroad
    @AmericanAbroad

    This dictator was re-elected with nearly 57% of the vote.  The problem is not just the politicians.

    • #4
  5. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    As a resident of Pierce County, south of Seattle, centered around Tacoma, I am particularly amazed by statements about the pandemic’s “skyrocketing” numbers.  I would, certainly grant that the current daily numbers of new infections in the county has grown pretty markedly during the last month or so, but two factors strike me as contradicting the description as such. First, I have a fairly wide number of friends and acquaintances, and other than an acquaintance who lives and works in Spokane, I do not know anyone either directly or indirectly who has been either found to be positive for the virus or has actually shown symptoms. The second is that the average number of new cases per day amounts to a less than sky rocketing number of around 392 cases per 100,000 population, or roughly .3%, that is 3 tenths of one percent, and the total number of confirmed cases during the entire duration of the pandemic is about 15,000 in a county with about a million inhabitants. That amounts to approximately 1.5% of the population. On the other hand, the Spanish Flu of 1918 infected approximately 33% of the world’s population. Beside that, the majority of cases in Pierce C0unty are in Tacoma and Puyallup with the numbers dropping radically as you move into more suburban and rural areas of the county. And, yet, the same rules are in place for Bonney Lake where I live as for the urban centers. Our schools remain closed. The area around designated as Bonney Lake for purposes of the county’s statistics on Covid has an approximate population of 10,000 residents (for purposes of counting they have divided the county up into area of no less than that population number. Since the start of the outbreak Bonney Lake has had a total of 421 confirmed cases in a population of 10,000. Only three areas in the county have exceeded 1000 cases, Tacoma with 4607 cases and Lakewood and Puyallup both with around 1200 cases. All three of those areas have much larger, denser populations than the other areas of the county. 

    I do find that the restrictions don’t have a lot of effect on me personally. I go about my life pretty much as I always have, other than wearing a mask when shopping or doing other indoor activities in public places. I have seen some interesting things while on my long bike rides though. One in particular is school buses delivery boxed lunches at their usual stops. Parents and children are usually lined up, unmasked, to get their food from the bus drivers who may or may not be masked. Pardon me if I find this entire situation bordering on the surreal. There seems to be a disconnect between the real world I live in and the one that our governor lives in about 25 miles away from here. Perhaps, he should don a mask and have a real look around. 

    • #5
  6. Darin Johnson Member
    Darin Johnson
    @user_648569

    American Abroad (View Comment):

    This dictator was re-elected with nearly 57% of the vote. The problem is not just the politicians.

    I hadn’t realized it was that close.  Considering Insley ran essentially unopposed (no disrespected intended, Mr. Culp, but come on), I thought he’d have had a much higher fraction.  It’s mildly encouraging.

    • #6
  7. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    T’here were signs all over Pierce County that said simply, “Anyone but Inslee.”

    • #7
  8. American Abroad Thatcher
    American Abroad
    @AmericanAbroad

    Darin Johnson (View Comment):

    American Abroad (View Comment):

    This dictator was re-elected with nearly 57% of the vote. The problem is not just the politicians.

    I hadn’t realized it was that close. Considering Insley ran essentially unopposed (no disrespected intended, Mr. Culp, but come on), I thought he’d have had a much higher fraction. It’s mildly encouraging.

    I know very litte about Washington politics, so perhaps we should take 57% as a sign of encouragement.  But I am skeptical.  Voters had all of spring and summer to see just how little politicians respect our rights.  I had hoped governors like Inslee would have lost big, even if it meant voting for Mickey Mouse or Boaty McBoatface.

    • #8
  9. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    The residents of Seattle, who run the state, approved by 70% the Dictator’s handling of the coronavirus response. They like slavery and slavishly follow all diktats from Olympia. They wear their masks outdoors, mask up while riding their bikes, and complain to the State about businesses who allow non-masked customers. They elect socialist city council critters. 

    • #9
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