Washington Governor Jay Inslee on Tuesday said he was considering mandatory measures to prevent an increase in coronavirus cases that could reach 64 000 in the state within eight weeks unless “real action” was taken.
Inslee said epidemiologists were telling him there were likely as many as 500 to 2,000 coronavirus cases in Washington at present, and given the rate of spread of the highly contagious respiratory illness, the number could double every 5 to 8 days.
Washington state has so far reported 162 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus with 22 deaths, but experts believe the number of actual cases is much higher.
“Whether it’s 500 today or 1 500 or 2 000, that just goes to a very large number, very quickly.” Inslee said.
Asked by reporters whether he was considering mandatory measures like school closures statewide, or just in hard-hit areas, Inslee said he expected to have news on that “in very short order.”
“The number of people who are infected in an epidemic like this will double in the state of Washington unless we take some real action here,” Inslee told reporters, adding that he was in talks with community leaders on how to implement measures effectively.
“Shutting down any social activity has profound consequences in people’s lives,” said Inslee. “You have to see if there are ways to reduce them or ameliorate that.”
Inslee’s warning of possible mandatory shutdowns coincided with warnings on Tuesday from state epidemiologists that COVID-19 cases would keep rising without greater so-called social distancing measures.
“If there are 1,000 people infected today, in seven to eight weeks there could be 64,000 people infected in the state of Washington if we don’t somehow slow down this epidemic,” Inslee said. “And in the next week it could be 120 000 and in the next a quarter of a million.”
There were reports following Inslee’s briefing that he suggested a statewide lockdown was possible.
“He did not say that,” Inslee spokeswoman Tara Lee said in response to a question on these reports.
One of Inslee’s prime concerns was preparing hospitals for a surge in patients.
“If the numbers are anything close to what I’m talking about, we’re going to have real challenges in our hospitals being able to deal with very sick people,” Inslee said, when asked about the greatest challenges facing the state.
“There are limitations on personnel that we’re working through and there’s some concerns, we’re trying to maximize the availability of ventilators.”
