Snohomish County Sheriff Won't Enforce Stay-At-Home Order

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The sheriff of Washington state’s third largest county says he won’t enforce Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-at-home order to slow the spread of the coronavirus, saying it violates people’s constitutional rights, and House Republican Leader J.T. Wilcox warned public patience is hitting a tipping point if some changes aren’t made soon.

Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney announced his position on Facebook Tuesday night, following a statewide address by Inslee in which the governor said the state will not be able to lift many of the stay-at-home restrictions implemented to fight the coronavirus by May 4. That’s the date through which the current directive is currently in place — but Inslee hopes health modeling in the coming days will allow resumption of some activities.

Also Wednesday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Joshua Freed sued Inslee in federal court, challenging the current prohibition on religious gatherings under the stay-at-home order. The complaint contends the prohibition is a violation of First Amendment rights pertaining to religious freedom, free speech and assembly.

Inslee has said a return to public life will take a series of steps and that until several markers are met — including adequate testing and a vaccine — preventing an increase in new cases is the main priority. And he announced a plan to have about 1,500 workers focused solely on contact tracing in place by the second week of May.

Inslee said the the state health officer believes the spread of COVID-19 is likely declining in Washington state, based on data on hospitalizations, confirmed cases and deaths, but he still urged caution.

“The data tell us that if we were to lift all restrictions right now – or even two weeks from now – this decline would almost certainly stop and the spread of COVID-19 would go up,” he said, adding that “to turn back on this successful temporary approach now would be disastrous.”

In a Facebook post Wednesday, Wilcox said that in his speech to the state, the governor “missed a critical opportunity to explain what metrics and forecasts he’s using and to address the obvious unfair and ineffective parts of his original Stay Home order. He risks a bigger disaster because these failures threaten the mandate of the public that he needs for truly effective orders now and in the future.”

Wilcox said later in a phone interview that the virus is serious and said has wanted to give the governor time to do the best possible job.

But he said that there are inconsistencies with what businesses are considered essential and non-essential, noting that while public construction is allowed, private construction still is not. Inslee has said private construction may start up again soon, but hasn’t given a timeline.

“I’m not arguing that we should be less safe. I’m arguing the fact that he’s losing legitimacy is making us less safe,” he said. “And this is from someone who has gone a long way to support him.”

There have been mounting calls for Inslee to ease the state’s stay-at-home order, and a weekend protest drew about 2,500 to Olympia. Fortney, the Snohomish County sheriff, joins Franklin County in eastern Washington where the sheriff and local officials say they will not enforce Inslee’s directive.

Snohomish County, which has about 800,000 residents, is part of the Seattle metro area. It has been particularly hard hit by COVID-19, with more than 2,100 confirmed cases and at least 99 deaths - the second-highest county fatality total in Washington. So far Washington has more than 12,280 confirmed cases and at least 682 deaths.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

David Postman, Inslee’s chief of staff, said Tuesday night that local officials don’t have the legal right to ignore stay-at-home orders.

“Local governments can be stricter than the state if they choose, they can’t be looser,” he said. “The law doesn’t allow it. The order is clearly rooted in statute and constitutional authority, and a county governing body does not have the right, the legal authority in any way, to take a vote and deem something unconstitutional. That’s a role for the courts.”

Inslee’s general counsel sent a letter to the county administrator of Franklin County on Wednesday, saying that a vote taken by the board of commissioners on Tuesday that businesses in the county that includes Pasco could reopen immediately “intentionally and knowingly violates an order issued by the Governor pursuant to his emergency powers” and violates state law. The letter directs the county to immediately retract or rescind the resolution.

Inslee said Tuesday if the recent modeling held up, he believed some elective surgeries could soon be allowed to resume. And he also hoped people could resume taking part in outdoor recreation.
Wilcox said that he hopes Inslee soon lays out exact metrics and goals to the public, and specific steps that businesses can start taking to reopen their doors, even if it is in phases.

“People just want to know,” Wilcox said. “I guarantee people want to end this so much that if he gave them goals, the compliance would go up.”

Report by Rachel La Corte/Associated Press

This article originally appeared on the Edmonds Patch