Inslee: Progress Made Battling Coronavirus, But More Must Be Done

SEATTLE, WA — Washington is back on track and making progress against the coronavirus pandemic, but still has a long ways to go according to Gov. Jay Inslee.

Speaking at a news conference Thursday, Inslee addressed several recent indicators showing that Washington has begun to flatten the curve of new coronavirus infections yet again.

"I am cautiously pleased to tell you we have seen a decline in diagnosed cases in the last two weeks, and that some of our other data shows some positive trends," said Inslee.

Inslee and the Washington State Department of Health are crediting that improvement to the public's willingness to wear masks and follow other safety guidelines.

"We've had some success on this because Washingtonians have masked up, they've been committed, business leaders have adhered to my order to make sure that people wear masks in retail spaces, and we think we're showing some success with that effort," Inslee said. "I want to thank Washingtonians in this regard."

The improvement has not been uniform, as the governor noted. Case counts have recently been increasing in Walla Walla, Spokane and Pierce counties, and Okanogan County is in the midst of an outbreak among its agricultural industry.

While there has been broad improvement, much work remains to be done. The state says the rate of transmission right now is estimated to be around one— meaning each coronavirus patient on average infects one other person. At that rate the pandemic will not grow, but it also will not shrink over time.

Additionally, while case counts are now stable, they are still much too high. Inslee estimates that, as a whole, the state was seeing about four times as many coronavirus cases as necessary.

"We need these cases to come down, we need to keep them down," said Inslee.

The governor noted that this is the second time now that Washington has begun to flatten the curve: in early April case counts began to decline, but ultimately shot back up with an explosion in new cases in June and July.

Experts say that dramatic rise in case counts was caused by a number of factors, but was largely driven by infections in younger adults aged 20 t0 39, many of whom were infected in social settings. Inslee says, that's why it is so important for everyone to take this good news with a grain of salt, and that residents must keep up their good behavior to prevent a third wave of infections in the fall.

"We have to be honest with ourselves, to realize we are so far away from success on this, that we have to remain incredibly diligent," said Inslee.