Washington Governor Extends Order to Stay Home Due to Covid-19

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday extended to May 4 his “stay home, stay safe” order, continuing a social distancing effort that has shown early signs of slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

“The things we’re doing are showing success,” said Inslee (D), who stood next to a chart depicting Washington’s rate of transmission leveling off compared with continued acceleration in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California.

Inslee justified the month-long extension via another chart reflecting that the percentage of tests coming back positive for the disease has increased outside the Seattle area and the central Puget Sound region.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Inslee said.

The governor added that he will veto spending bills on Friday “to give us a cushion to deal with this anticipated severe reduction in revenues” from his closing down so much of the state’s economy. He called the vetoes “very painful because I will be vetoing some really good things tomorrow that I believe in, that I care for. But we have to be fiscally responsible.”

Washington had 6,585 cases of Covid-19 and 271 deaths by late Thursday, Bloomberg data show.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Shukovsky in Seattle at pshukovsky@bloomberglaw.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fawn Johnson at fjohnson@bloomberglaw.com; Tina May at tmay@bloomberglaw.com