In her recent update, state Rep. Carolyn Eslick, R-Sultan, one of my legislators, commented that one of the most common concerns she’d heard over the last year was Gov. Jay Inslee’s covid-19 emergency declarations. As a retired health care provider (physician’s assistant), I have been grateful for the governor’s early and decisive actions which have helped to keep our statewide death toll lower than most other states, currently at 155 deaths per 100,000 population. We also have one of the lowest case rates in the country.
I know one of Rep. Eslick’s big concerns is the welfare of children; this is true of most of us. An article in January of this year reported that more than 167,000 American children have lost at least one parent or primary caregiver to the pandemic, and 1 in 4 adult covid deaths leaves a child orphaned or without a caregiver. These are terrible numbers for our children!
I am so grateful that our governor has acted so that some of our state’s children have been spared this misery. I, for one, am happy to wear a mask and get vaccinated to support our children this way. Yes, other children have made less progress in school and have mental health problems from the school closures. These need to be dealt with, and they are usually easier to deal with than the loss of a parent or caregiver. In addition, we also have far fewer people dealing with the disability of long covid; how many more families does that affect? (Not to talk about the financial cost to those families, and to society in general.)
I am hopeful that emergency mandates will soon be a memory, even as the mask mandate has been lifted. In the meantime, let us focus on moving forward together, supporting our children, educators, mental health, and health professionals, moving our communities toward health and happiness.
June Thomasson
Sultan
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