Yak. Commissioner McKinney Pushes For Local Control
Yakima County Commissioner Amanda McKinney continues to push the Governor s office to restore local control in the fight against the Coronavirus.
McKinney says she was convinced that Governor Inslee wouldn t roll back King County which provided a bit of a buffer for other counties on the edge. The numbers suggest to the Commissioner that Yakima County has already reached herd immunity .
She says our migrant worker population isn t factored in when the state computes our Covid status, noting that 28-thousand people whose jobs and work proximity make them more susceptible to the virus can have an affect on the outcome of Coronavirus counts but aren t included in our total population.
Will County Stay in Phase-3? Governor to Make Announcement
Yakima County officials are optimistic about Yakima staying in Phase-3 of the state s reopening plan this week. Governor Jay Inslee is expected to make an announcement on Tuesday on whether or not some counties in the state will have to move back to more restrictive measures because of rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. There s already news out that King County, the largest county in the state will likely be moved back to Phase-2 of the state s reopening plan. If the county is moved back to Phase-2 capacity at gyms, restaurants and retail outlets will go from the current 50% capacity to 25% capacity.
The Latest From the Commissioners On Vaccine Availability Update
There is an awful lot of confusion out there about the availability of the Coronavirus vaccine so we thought we would have a quick conversation with Yakima County Commissioner Amanda McKinney and get the latest.
First thing.the Governor says more vaccine is headed to Washington state and it is sorely needed even though as of Monday 1/25/21 over a half million does has already been given out with 13,500 of those in Yakima County.
Second thing,,, the demand is overwhelming. The Washington State Department of Health figures the 65 and over population to be around 1-point-1 million individuals with another 300-thousand persons over 50 living in multigenerational homes, all eligible to receive the vaccine.