COVID-19 NEWS
Keep up with all the fast-moving novel coronavirus news, particularly as it impacts the Columbia Basin.
COVID-19 update
RITZVILLE — Adams County Health Department administrators have reported another death related to COVID-19, raising…
Republican lawmakers sue Inslee over shutdown
OLYMPIA — In the latest in an escalating series of legal challenges by Republicans, four Washington state legislators sued Gov. Jay Inslee in federal court on Tuesday, seeking to strike down his stay-home order aim…
COVID-19 testing capacity and PPE supplies increasing
OLYMPIA — As the state begins the first phase of Gov. Jay Inslee’s gradual transition to back normalcy, public health officials such as Charissa Fotinos, deputy chief medical officer for the state Health Care Autho…
State officials give more information on slow reopening process
OLYMPIA — State officials on Monday provided some more details about Gov. Jay Inslee’s four-phase plan to reopen the state following the governor’s orders in late March to shut down “non-essential” businesses and b…
Grant County commissioners must stay within legal authority, they say
EPHRATA — Grant County commissioners don’t think they have the authority to lift restrictions on movement and business imposed by Gov. Jay Inslee in an effort to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. Commissioners issued a…
Columbia Basin Foundation raises $126,000 for local grants to boost non-profits, small business
EPHRATA — Columbia Basin Foundation, or CBF, is making $126,000 available in grants to non-profits — including chambers of commerce — to help boost small businesses during the closures associated with the COVID-19 …
Coronavirus: No new Grant County cases Monday
MOSES LAKE — No new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in Grant County on Monday, according to Grant County Health District, meaning the total of positive cases in the county held at 182.
Shutdown continues: Inslee outlines slow plan to reopen state
OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee outlined a four-phase plan Friday afternoon that will slowly reopen the state over the next several months, but much of the governor’s initial stay-at-home closure order will remain in pla…
Protesters in Ephrata ask governor to ease restrictions
EPHRATA — About 60 people gathered on the lawn of the Grant County Courthouse to ask Gov. Jay Inslee to ease restrictions on movement and business he imposed to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.
Samaritan Healthcare implements cuts in wake of COVID-19
MOSES LAKE — Management and medical providers at Samaritan Healthcare of Moses Lake are taking temporary pay cuts and other employees are taking voluntary furl…
Coronavirus: Seven new cases reported Sunday
Seven new cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in Grant County Sunday
Economists unsure of lasting impacts virus could have
OLYMPIA — Hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians have filed for unemployment in the weeks since Gov. Jay Inslee’s “stay home, stay healthy,” order, and now as the state prepares for its gradual reopening of public…
Coronavirus: Four new confirmed cases reported Saturday
GRANT COUNTY - There were 175 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Grant County as of Saturday evening with three new cases reported in the Quincy area …
Coronavirus: Recoveries narrowly outpace new confirmed infections for first time
More people have recovered from the novel coronavirus in Grant County than tested positive since last Friday, the first time this has happened since the Grant …
COVID-19 slump expected to continue for most of 2020
MOSES LAKE — The nation’s economy is expected to shrink for most of this year, with growth only expected to return in the last three months of 2020, according to a presentation from the state’s chief economist.
Washington Trust president expects PPP loans to go quickly
SPOKANE — Small-business owners looking to apply for a federal loan to help keep their business going should act quickly, because once this round of Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, funds are gone, there may no…