USDA looks to issue food aid grants to school districts
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking applications for school districts to buy locally produced food under the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. According to a USDA press release, the agency has $200 million to give to state governments...
WA Dept. of Health announces pandemic recovery plan
OLYMPIA - The pandemic is easing up and with it, the state is transitioning its focus onto other areas while entering a new phase of recovery, according to Department of Health officials on Wednesday. Dr. Umair A. Shah, DOH Secretary of Health, said that, as the pace of the pandemic slows, the state is beginning to focus on other areas of public health. The WA Forward plan...
Grant County revamps processes in wake of audit findings
EPHRATA — Grant County officials will introduce new procedures when awarding federal funding following a finding from the Washington Auditor’s Office that county officials didn’t have adequate supervision of funds distributed for COVID-19 relief. The cause, according to the audit report, was...
Emergency COVID-19 insurance orders extended into April
OLYMPIA– Two emergency orders issued relating to COVID-19 have been extended until April 28, according to a press release from the Washington State Insurance Commissioner’s Office.
Samaritan Healthcare ends 2021 in the black
COVID-19 repercussions cause backlog
MOSES LAKE — The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to make themselves felt, including financially.
Additional COVID-19 boosters recommended
OLYMPIA — The Washington State Department of Health has approved a second mRNA COVID-19 booster shot for people over 50 and some immunocompromised individuals, according to a department press release issued Wednesday. The department said individuals eligible for the second booster shots of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines could receive those shots four months after receiving the first booster shots. The new guidance follows revised guidelines from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control...
State immunization rates decline
OLYMPIA — Immunization rates - for vaccines other than COVID-19 - for children and teens in Washington declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the Washington Department of Health. Immunization rates dropped 13% in 2021 when compared with rates prior to the pandemic, said a DOH press release...
Quincy mayor terminates COVID-19 emergency order
QUINCY — Quincy Mayor Paul Worley has terminated an order dating from 2020 declaring a civil emergency. Worley issued the termination proclamation May 16, and a resolution approving Worley’s action was approved by the Quincy City Council May 17. The civil emergency order was issued March 16, 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and followed a proclamation of civil emergency from Gov. Jay Inslee. In the May 16 proclamation, Worley said with pandemic conditions improving, the order is no longer needed.
COVID-19 update
Additional death reported in Adams County
RITZVILLE — Adams County Health Department administrators have reported another death related to COVID-19, raising to 39 the number of coronavirus-related deaths in Adams County since the pandemic began in 2020. “A male, age 83, died of cardiac arrest and pneumonia secondary to the COVID-19 virus,” according to an ACHD press release. “According to the available records, of the 15 most recent COVID-19 deaths in Adams County none were fully vaccinated against this disease,” the release said. The last reported coronavirus-related death reported in Grant County was announced Aug. 18 in a weekly update from the Grant County Health District. The patient was a woman in her 80s who had an underlying health condition, according to the health district release...
Washington state of emergency ends today
OLYMPIA — The state of emergency declared by Gov. Jay Inslee to fight the COVID–19 pandemic ends today at midnight. Inslee imposed the state of emergency in March 2020. A Washington Department of Health order mandating masks in healthcare and long-term care facilities will remain in effect, according to a press release from the governor’s office. The mask order also applies in some correctional facilities in communities with high levels of coronavirus transmission, the order said. Some rules governing workplace safety also will remain in effect. “Ending this order does not mean we take the pandemic less seriously or will lose focus on how the virus has changed the way we live,” Inslee wrote in the press release. “We will continue our commitment to (public health), but simply through different tools that are now more appropriate for the era we’ve entered.”
