Washington's governor is once again sounding the alarm that our state needs many more supplies to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Jay Inslee appeared on CNN today and said our state needs the federal government to step up to provide much-needed supplies.
This comes as the governor is sending out the message that his stay-at-home order will almost certainly be extended.
The governor had already told the state. On Sunday, he told the nation: His two-week stay-at-home order may not be long enough.
“I think it’s highly probable that the two week Stay Home, Stay Healthy initiative we started two weeks ago is going to have to be extended.”
Inslee was apparently spurred by scenes like, a bustling I-5 and scores of people outside, despite the statewide order to stay home.
A couple, both health care workers, explained why they are out.
“I’ve been pulling 10-hour shifts,” said Taurean Cathey, a surgical technician, out for a walk with his partner, Tiana Tomas, a nurse, and their dog. “She’s been doing 12. I know we have to listen to the words of the government and the governor and everything that he says. But I just needed some fresh air.”
“And to be honest with you,” said Steve Bailey, a cyclist from West Seattle, “we gotta get some exercise. 'Cause otherwise we’re all going to be unhealthy at the end of this, regardless.”
Just yesterday, the governor, along with other local, state and federal officials, welcomed to CenturyLink Field Evens Center an army medic unit based in Colorado, soldiers who will create a military, 150-bed field hospital for non-COVID-19 patients.
But he says the state needs more beds, more ventilators, even more swabs to test potential coronavirus patients.
“We just do not have those simple things,” said Inslee. “And that’s why we’ve got to mobilize the entire manufacturing base of the United States like we did in World War II for things as simple as these testing kits.”
The governor says there have been some successes. The University of Washington has ramped up its ability to analyze the samples that are being taken.
But he says the federal government and the rest of us have to do more to prevent more lives being lost to this virus.