A false narrative

The guest opinion on August 2 regarding the pandemic shutdown of Slidewaters in Chelan (“Slidewaters owners: Our outrage is genuine”) makes a number of statements that are wrong.

People are empathetic to the business impacted by the pandemic, including Slidewaters. The emergency declaration by Governor Inslee is not illegal (twice courts have upheld his authority). The governor relied on health care professionals in making difficult decisions to slow the virus. The guest opinion states Inslee is making the decisions based on “junk science,” which is false. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) downplayed COVID-19, allowing the state to stay open with few restrictions. Florida has 497,330 cases and 7,402 deaths — more than most countries in the world. Chelan County health district reports 1,195 cases with 12 deaths. Inslee’s efforts were motivated by trying to save lives. He took decisive action.

The guest opinion’s authors agree the “reported” cases are up noticeably, stating it’s due to more testing. No testing and we wouldn’t have any COVID-19 cases? CDC reports 4.8 million confirmed cases with 158,000 deaths in the U.S. How many deaths and hospitalizations are acceptable?

The guest opinion stated the actions by Inslee were out of desperation for “his party” to win the presidential election. That statement is an affront to everyone affected by COVID-19. Trump was warned in January by daily intelligence briefings of the global danger posed by the virus. His inaction put us where we are today. This pandemic will have long-term devastating impact on our state. Providing a false narrative doesn’t help.

Chris Powell

Spokane