SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — Key Facts:
- 26 new deaths and 89 new cases reported on Wednesday. Total of 567 deaths and 10,783 overall cases in Washington.
- Gov. Inslee said it's 'unknowable' if Washington's stay-home order can be lifted May 4
- 17 coronavirus deaths among 286 cases in Spokane County
Thursday, April 16
5:40 p.m.
Governor Jay Inslee's office announced expansions to the eviction moratorium and added protections for residential and certain commercial tenants.
According to an email from Inslee's office, a proclamation signed by the governor extends the moratorium through June 4. It also prohibits evictions for people in lots or parcels, transitional housing and camping on public lands.
It also will prohibit landlords from requiring people to move into lesser units if they can't pay rent, stops the enforcement of vacate agreements, and also prohibits landlords from assessing or threatening to assess rental rates in a place where tenants access was prevented due to the pandemic. These units include:
- Season and college housing
- People who planned to move before the pandemic
- Those who had to leave due to circumstance caused by the coronavirus
The order also now prevents the raising of rents or deposits for both residential and commercial units, although the commercial protections also apply to businesses that have been negatively impacted by the pandemic.
Unpaid rent also can't be used as enforceable debt, according to the order.
3:30 p.m.
Governor Jay Inslee was joined by Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzi LaVine to discuss the state's coronavirus response, and in particular, expanded unemployment benefits in the state.
Inslee: 'We will continue to make decisions for Washington'
Before shifting to unemployment, however, Inslee said he was happy to hear that President Donald Trump has announced he will not try to override the power of state's governors to reopen industries.
"We will continue to make decisions of Washington, for Washington, by Washington about how we are fighting the COVID-19 virus," Inslee said.
He also reiterated that, while the state has made progress, cases are still in a plateau and not yet dropping, which will need to happen before the Washington economy begins to reopen.
Inslee said the federal government needs to ramp up production, but also said that it was good that most of the criteria for reopening the economy in Washington closely matches those President Trump has outlined on a federal level. He also said Washington is still far from being ready to reopen.
"We are a thousand miles away from having enough testing equipment in the United States and the state of Washington," Inslee said.
He also said he is in talks with world leaders "every day" to obtain more test kits, and that LaVine reached out to a Swiss company she had contact with during her time the U.S's Ambassador to Switzerland to obtain more kits.
The governor estimated the state would need the capacity to analyze 15,000 tests a day to reopen the economy fully.
Washington rolling out new provisions for unemployment benefits
Inslee said the ESD paid $125 million in claims last week to more than 250,000 people, and has thus far paid more than $250 million in benefits during the pandemic. He said this represents the highest weekly payments since the Great Depression.
LaVine said the department received 143,000 initial last week, the third-highest amount for a week on record, and that the highest number the department has seen in a week during the pandemic was 183,000 in initial claims.
The number of new claims this week, Inslee said, was lower than previous weeks, but cumulative claims have topped half-a-million since March.
LaVine also announced three new provisions for unemployment benefits in the state: an update to the system to get people more money as outlined in the CARES Act, expanding unemployment eligibility to contractors; self-employed individuals and those under the hourly work requirement (who will also receive the $600 CARES Act stipend); and the extending the maximum number of weeks people can receive unemployment benefits from the state from 26 weeks to 39 weeks.
The ESD won't be taking calls Saturday as it updates the system, but LaVine said phone lines will be reopened Sunday. She also warned that, with the effort of getting more people the benefits they are eligible for, the website will be "clunky" and "bare-bones."
LaVine said the state estimated there are more than a million independent contractors in Washington, but didn't know how many have seen wages affected by the pandemic.
The ESD will also provide a checklist so people can have all the documents needed ready when they file, LaVine said. She also said that its thought that most people who were previously denied will now be eligible.
LaVine and Inslee also said the state has a large trust fund to rely on, and Inslee said the state could make it until next January before a shift in budgetary decisions is needed. LaVine also said discussions are happening on a federal level to help state recuperate these losses.
The governor also thanked Vice President Mike Pence for speaking with governor's to help coordinate response efforts and said he hopes talks continue.
He was also asked about potential protests in Olympia over the weekend against the stay-home order and said people are allowed to use their First Amendment rights. But he added that those people should know that all other Washingtonians are making sacrifices to save lives.
WA Food Fund donations
Gov. Jay Inslee urged more individuals and corporations to donate to a statewide food assistance fund to help meet the growing demand in Washington.
More than $1 million has already been donated to the WA Food Fund since launching on April 7, but Inslee said an estimated $12 million more is still needed.
“I am very grateful to those who have stepped up to help their neighbors put food on the table during this unprecedented crisis,” Inslee said. “Washingtonians across the state have demonstrated generosity and compassion. But there is more work to be done to make sure that no one goes hungry due to COVID-19 in our state.”
So far, more than 3,600 people have donated $585,000 to the WA Food Fund. The donations are being directed to Food Lifeline, Northwest Harvest, and Second Harvest, which supply food panties across the state.
Almost 500,000 people in the state are out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
5:40 a.m.
The Spokane Regional Health District reports 17 coronavirus deaths and 286 cases in Spokane County.
5.2 million more people file for unemployment
The wave of layoffs that has engulfed the U.S. economy since the coronavirus struck forced 5.2 million more people to seek unemployment benefits last week.
Roughly 22 million have sought jobless benefits in the past month — easily the worst stretch of U.S. job losses on record.
All told, roughly 12 million people are now receiving unemployment checks, roughly matching the peak reached in January 2010, shortly after the Great Recession officially ended.
FDA approves low-cost ventilator
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a low-cost ventilator developed by the University of Minnesota and aimed at helping COVID-19 patients breathe.
The FDA authorized use of the compact device, known as the Coventor, that was quickly developed and designed by a team of university researchers, a medical school resident and an engineer.
The developers hope the Coventor will be used in clinical settings where traditional ventilators are unavailable.
China denies allegations about origin of virus
China is refuting allegations that the coronavirus pandemic may have originated in a laboratory near the city of Wuhan where contagious samples were being stored.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian cited the head of the World Health Organization and other unidentified medical experts as saying there was no evidence that transmission began from the lab and there was “no scientific basis” for such claims.
China has also strongly denied claims it delayed reporting on the virus outbreak in Wuhan late last year and underreported case numbers, worsening the impact on the U.S. and other countries. The virus is widely believed to have originated with bats and have passed via another animal species to humans at a wildlife and seafood market in Wuhan, although a firm determination has yet to be made.
Allegations about a leak of the virus from the lab have been made in the U.S. media without direct evidence, and President Donald Trump has vowed to suspend funding for the World Health Organization, partly because of what he claims is its pro-China bias.