So here we are 70% vaccinated, in a record setting heat wave, and Governor Inslee sits on his hands.

Our Governor has declared himself dictator of everything Covid for over a year.  He could have announced last week as the record heat wave hit was predicted that he was opening our state a few days early.   What difference would that have made? 

In the Northwest, these kinds of temperatures are so rare that few people have airconditioned their homes. Seattle is the least airconditioned city in the nation with only 44%.   Few of us are aware of the dangers that heat waves present, especially heat strokes.  Removing the covid restrictions a few days early would have reinforced that heat stroke is real and needs to be taken seriously.  Without restrictions, thousands could have sought out places to escape the heat for the last 4 days of June 2021.  It would have opened airconditioned offices, hotels, indoor gyms, bowling alleys, restaurants, and churches to full capacity.   Airconditioned buildings help ease heat wave discomfort and provide a healthy retreat for human and pet protection.

Instead, our State has said check on your neighbors and relatives.  Once you do that and find them in heat stress, then what do you do?  Give them water, absolutely.  Get them fans?  Good luck! They are difficult to find and disappeared from our supply chain limited stores last Saturday.  Get them in a hotel room overnight?  Good luck with that, hotels are still at 50% capacity and forward-thinking persons had their room booked well before last Saturday.  How about a couple of hours at the movies?  50% capacity.; better reserve those tickets early.  How about going to work in an airconditioned office?   Forget that if you are a government employee – Monday morning to that hot home office you go.

Where have we gone?  Anyplace that has public access to water.  While this is a solution for some, this is not a way out of deadly heat for everyone.

So, Washingtonians, all we had to do was wait until the heat wave subsided and relief will finally be here;  covid will no longer restrict access from airconditioned relief, a positive outcome from the past 15.5 months of economic lockdown. 

It is way past time for our cities, counties, and state representatives to take back the reigns and start representing us again. To give ultimate power to one person to govern over us, no matter what party he/she is from, is needed to bring unity both socially and economically back into the forefront.  The people have known that the lockdowns were unnecessary and a solution that caused more death, grief, mental instability, and has wiped out many of those “un-essential” businesses due to unlawful mandates by governor’s following Fauci-science . 

`Lorraine Newman