When Grant County qualifies, commissioners want to be ready

EPHRATA — As of Wednesday, Grant County doesn’t qualify for a variance that would allow portions of the economy to restart. But county officials are working on an application for a variance, so it can be submitted as quickly as possible when the county does qualify.

Restrictions on movement and business were imposed in March by Gov. Jay Inslee to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. On May 1, Inslee announced a four-phase plan to remove those restrictions with a timetable.

Counties that meet the qualifications can apply for a variance to start resuming business and activities sooner. Grant County Commissioner Tom Taylor said Wednesday that commissioners are ready to apply for that variance, when they can.

“We’re very interested (in applying), but we just don’t meet the criteria yet,” Taylor said.

Inslee announced Tuesday that 10 counties had been added to the list of those eligible to apply for the variance. Grant County wasn’t on it.

Gubernatorial press secretary Mike Faulk said the data used to decide which counties could apply was collected in the two-week period from April 28 to May 12. Whether or not a county qualified for the variance depended in part on the county’s rate of infection, calculated per 100,000 residents.

In a press release issued Wednesday, Grant County Health District administrator Theresa Adkinson said that the rate of infection in Grant County had to be less than 10 cases per 100,000 residents for the county to qualify. Grant County didn’t meet that requirement.

Conditions have changed quickly from the beginning of the outbreak, and Faulk said the state’s reopening plan tries to take that into account.

“That 14-day span is not static,” he said.

Each variance application will be considered “based on the facts on the ground,” Faulk said.

Grant County officials want to be ready to apply once the county meets the criteria.

“We’re working on that (the application) right now,” Commissioner Richard Stevens said.

Inslee’s plan calls for limited reopening to begin statewide June 1.

“We’re looking forward to June 1 and we’re hopeful, but things can change,” Taylor said.

Taylor and Faulk cited the case of Kittitas County, which had qualified for the variance. State officials were ready to issue it, Faulk said, when a new outbreak was reported.

“It’s a tough deal,” Stevens said. He still has a job, but there are many people in Grant County who lost theirs at least temporarily, and that’s a concern, he said.

“It’s possible that there are other counties that could be eligible,” Faulk said. County officials who think their county could qualify can contact the Washington Department of Health, he said, and make their case.

“I sit here every day with my fingers crossed that the cases are down and they stay down,” Taylor said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached at education@columbiabasinherald.com.