Inslee Press Conference Thursday — Will Continue Stay At Home

Gov. Inslee opened his Thursday press conference by saying he was glad President Trump reportedly said he would not interfere with Washington's re-entry and COVID program.

Inslee said decisions will continue to be made "by Washington for Washington." His tone was somewhat conciliatory, but definitely a touch of arrogance.

Inslee said two things have to happen for re-opening,  downward trend in cases and a more robust testing program.  So it appears that we are Stay Home til at least May 4. Some of these were discussed at his press conference Wednesday. His brief update today was a bit less optimistic than earlier.  It appears after the downward trend appears (which his models seemed to indicate would happen) he wants to implement a robust testing program, his "fire brigade", to allow those who appear to have symptoms to be able to get rapidly tested.  He's insinuated he wants this in place before re-opening the state, but has not specifically said so.

That part remains confusing.

The rest of the conference was centered around and featured an address by Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzy Levine.

She and Inslee said the employment security options will be greatly expanded in conjunction with the Federal CARES Act.  Unemployment benefits for qualified recipients will increase by as much as $600 per week in some cases.

It will be opened up to contractors, workers and other industries who previously were not always eligible.  Many of these workers will get as much as $835 a week.

Inslee said the state has hired hundreds of people to help with this effort, even overtime has been authorized for this ESD effort.

So it appears the financial relief many are seeking is not going to come from the unlocking or at least partially re-opening up the private sector, but spending massive amounts of government dollars to provide economic relief.  Levine said there will be perhaps some issues on the website, revisions have been made.  She said people need to go to the ESD website, sign up for action alerts, and also download the app.  Peoples information will be uploaded, financial information, and it will proceed from there.

To find out more of the specifics, click on the button below. There's a lot to break down.