Governor Inslee announces closures of indoor dining, other restrictions to curb COVID-19 – KING5.com

The governor has announced several statewide restrictions to help curb the spread of coronavirus. These restrictions go into effect on Monday and go until Dec. 14.

OLYMPIA, Wash. Gov. Jay Inslee has announced new statewide restrictions to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, which includes closing indoor service for restaurants and bars and prohibiting indoor social gatherings.

These rules will mostly go into effect on Monday at 11:59 p.m. and will remain in effect until Dec. 14.

The announcement comes following days of increasing COVID-19 cases.

The impacted industries/areas are:

During an 11 a.m. press conference, Inslee announced $50 million for aid to businesses who have been impacted.

Watch the press conference below or by clicking here.

For the second day in a row Saturday, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) reported a record number of daily cases, with 2,233 new cases in a trend officials describe as alarming.

"This puts us in as dangerous a position as we were in March, when we first stayed home to stay healthy. And it means, unfortunately, the time has come to reinstate restrictions on activities statewide to preserve the publics well-being, and to save lives," Inslee said.

The latest update brings the states totals to 127,731 cases and 2,519 deaths, according to the DOH. Officials also reported that 9,281 people have been hospitalized in the state because of the virus.

"A pandemic is raging in our state. Left unchecked, it will assuredly result in grossly overburdened hospitals and morgues; and keep people from obtaining routine but necessary medical treatment for non-COVID conditions. Left unchecked, our economic devastation will be prolonged, and, most importantly, we will see untold deaths. We will not allow this to happen," Inslee said.

At this point, schools that have in-person learning will not be asked to close unless directed by local health authories.

Inslee also issued a travel advisory on Friday, urging anyone entering the state to self-quarantine for 14 days to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued similar advisories Friday.

The advisories urge the public to avoid non-essential out-of-state travel and encourage residents to stay close to home.

The governor and his wife, Trudi, also made a televised address on Thursday pleading with people to reconsider holiday gatherings because of the jump in cases.

"We have to rethink these holidays so that we may be thankful when we don't lose more lives to COVID," Inslee said during the address.

"We are optimistic that Thanksgiving 2021 will be the best ever, but this year, it's just too dangerous to gather together indoors where the virus can spread so easily," he said.

Washington businesses have warned they may not survive another shutdown.

During a briefing on Friday, the Washington Hospitality Association released their latest estimates that show hospitality sales are down 45%.

When you talk about 35% of restaurants going out of business, each one of those is a story, said Anthony Anton, president and CEO of the Washington Hospitality Association.

A statewide stay-at-home order was issued in March because of coronavirus. When businesses shut their doors, the hospitality industry lost 191,000 jobs, according to the association. Anton said as Washington has slowly reopened, 100,000 of those jobs came back.

"If we have to shut down again, that means we're going to lose those 100,000 jobs, Anton said.

The industry is urging the public to take coronavirus seriously and follow health protocols so businesses don't have to move backwards.

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Governor Inslee announces closures of indoor dining, other restrictions to curb COVID-19 - KING5.com