DAYTON–Members of the Economic Development Steering Committee, a group which meets monthly to provide strategic direction to the county’s economic development efforts, have gone on record, asking Governor Jay Inslee to amend “the regional approach” of reopening plans “by allowing small counties with good health metrics to go back to the county-by-county model of meeting criteria and advancing in phases.”

A letter was drafted and will be sent to the governor, under the letterheads of Columbia County, City of Dayton, Port of Columbia, Dayton School District, Chamber of Commerce, Columbia County Health System, Columbia County Public Transportation, and Columbia County Emergency Management Department. The letter makes a case for an exception to the plan that includes this county in with Walla Walla, Benton, Franklin, Yakima and Kittitas counties, the so-called South Central region.

“We know that our 16th District representatives agree with our stance,” commented Jennie Dickinson, Executive Director of the Port of Columbia and moderator of the EDSC meetings, “which is why we’re directing this correspondence to the Governor’s office instead.

“By linking our request to the size of our community, our success in keeping our kids learning in-person, and our ability to operate safely in Phase 3 for many months,” Dickinson said, “we’re hoping we can convince the Governor to allow communities our size to go back to the county-by-county phase advancement model.  Hopefully this strategy will make a difference and our message will be heard.”

In addition to the agencies listed, local businesses adding their support to the request include The Club, Bluewood Ski Area, Chief Springs Fire and Irons, My Dad’s Place, Jay’s Garage, the Dayton Chronicle and 22 other businesses.

The letter is directed to Salvador Salazar in the governor’s office and reads:

Salvador Salazar

Office of the Governor

February 10, 2021

Dear Mr. Salazar,

On behalf of the community of Dayton and Columbia County, WA, we are writing to share with you the experiences of a small, rural community during the COVID-19 pandemic and ask for your assistance in changing the phase advancement criteria to better fit our community.

As the second smallest county in the state with a population of 4,000, our citizens have done an excellent job keeping each other safe. The way we live our everyday lives fits many of the “social distancing” requirements of our state’s efforts to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The few number of people per square mile is almost humorous, but it is a life we cherish. Considering we are a county with 28% of our population over the age of 65, we have not only kept case numbers low and deaths to a minimum, but have done so while holding in-person school, operating outdoor recreation facilities, testing and vaccinating, and most of all, taking care of our elderly and most vulnerable populations.

By following the Safe Start guidelines from the Office of Superintendent of Public Schools and with the assistance of our local Public Health office, the Dayton School District has successfully held in-person instruction since the beginning of the school year. With 20 weeks of school behind them, only 2 weeks had to be conducted remotely due to a few staff-related positive COVID cases. Our students and teachers wear masks, and the school sanitizes each day. Only 10 schools in the State of Washington started on time, and two of those are located in our county (Dayton and Starbuck School Districts) where all students are attending in-person school five days per week. Furthermore, The Club, a nonprofit that provides afterschool programing for Columbia County youth, has also remained open during this time period with zero COVID-19 cases connected to their facility.

For such a small community we are fortunate to have a fantastic health care system that serves all of Columbia County and our small neighboring town, Waitsburg, in eastern Walla Walla County. The nursing home facility here, Booker Rest Home, has not had one single case of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Dayton General Hospital has provided professional testing services and is currently providing vaccinations for COVID-19 at a very successful rate. At the time of this letter, almost 25% of residents of vaccination age in Columbia County have received at least their first dose. If we can get enough vaccine to continue this process, we will reach herd immunity much more quickly than our larger neighbors.

Columbia County is home to Bluewood Ski Area, which is experiencing a banner year. Business is up 70% over last year as state residents seek outdoor activities that can be done safely. Bluewood management has done a stellar job keeping the public safe. They have a 100% mask required/no tolerance policy, and if a customer refuses to wear a mask they are escorted to the parking lot and asked to return when the pandemic is over. They have had no known COVID-19 cases related to their recreation business. Considering Bluewood sees hundreds of visitors per day coming from counties other than our own, this is a remarkable accomplishment.

We understand the purpose of the new Healthy Washington Roadmap to Recovery regional approach to reopening society and our economy. We also support the idea of making sure there is enough hospital capacity, and particularly ICU bed capacity, in our regional hospital system to meet the demands of this virus. We also support finding ways to keep this virus in check, but this regional model is not really designed for the smallest of our state’s counties. We do not have enough bodies here to affect the regional trend in COVID-19 cases per 100K population, the hospitalization rate, the ICU occupancy rate, or the positivity rate in either direction – good or bad. We just don’t have enough people here to make a regional difference.

Prior to this new regional model, our county had successfully operated in Phase 3 for many months. In fact, we were one of the first counties to advance in the original Safe Start model. From the examples provided in this letter, you can see that we have continued to do our part to combat this virus.

Our request is that you consider an amendment to the regional approach by allowing small counties (e.g., counties with a population of 10,000 or less) with good health metrics to go back to the county-by-county model of meeting criteria and advancing in phases. We think this is a more practical approach for our communities.

This request was developed through consensus during a meeting with many community partners, including Columbia County Public Health, Columbia County Hospital District, the City of Dayton, Columbia County, the Dayton Chamber of Commerce, the Dayton School District, the Port of Columbia, Columbia County Public Transit, and many nonprofit organizations and business owners.

We would very much appreciate it if you would share our request with Governor Inslee. We would be happy to schedule a meeting with you and our community partners to discuss this further if you are interested. We have responsive community partners and can set up a meeting on short notice.