SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward was vaccinated for COVID-19 on Thursday afternoon at Gonzaga University’s vaccine clinic.
Woodward said she’s trying to set an example for her younger constituents. She said the uptick in cases among young people in the Spokane area is concerning and she wanted to check out the clinic.
“It’s convenient, it’s on campus, I wanted to check it out,” Woodward said. “I just became eligible myself. So, I made the appointment and wanted to come here to send the message, ‘Come on. Get your vaccine.’”
Woodward said the process was super easy and the vaccination didn’t even hurt.
“There’s no excuse at all,” Woodward said. “We are at a point where our cases are going up and our hospitalizations aren’t going down anymore. Come May 3 we don’t want the bad news that we could be going backwards.”
Woodward said if the state decides Spokane County needs to fall back a phase, it would be devastating to both businesses and the community.
“We’ve worked so hard to get to where we are,” she said.
Currently, Spokane County is failing both metrics - new cases over 14 days and hospitalizations over seven days - needed to stay in Phase 3 of Governor Jay Inslee's reopening plan.
The next statewide county evaluation is set for May 3. One Eastern Washington county, Whitman, was moved back to Phase 2 during the last evaluation period.
