COVID-19 Website Resources:
Washington state Dept. of Commerce COVID website
AWB COVID-19 resources for employers
US Small Business Administration CARES Act
Washington State COVID-19 Resource Guide from K&L Gates with an overview and links to benefits for people in Washington State
COVID-19 MODELS:
Washington Dept. of Health daily statistics
University of Washington IHME Model
Global growth of COVID-19 – logarithmic and linear curves
John Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard
COVID-19 Road Map to Reopening:
National coronavirus response: A road map to reopening
Inslee’s SAFE RETURN TO PUBLIC LIFE IN WASHINGTON STATE
Gov. Inslee’s Phase I Construction Restart
UC Davis wearing a mask reduces risk by 65%
Gov. Inslee issues additional guidance for construction, golf and photography in Phase 2 on May 15, 2020
Gov. Inslee opens Phase I low-risk construction April 24, 2020 after the Construction Roundtable delivered unanimous protocols to reopen commercial and residential construction on April 14, 2020
MEDIA:
Seattle Times: Inslee allows some construction projects with safety rules to protect against the coronavirus, April 24, 2020
KING-TV: Gov. Inslee announces ‘low risk’ construction can resume, April 24, 2020
KOMO-TV: Inslee announces plan to get construction workers back on the job, April 24, 2020
The Olympian: Inslee: Construction projects can resume, with distancing , April 24, 2020
NBC Right Now: Homebuilders Call on Governor Inslee to Restart Construction This Week, April 22, 2020
Kent Reporter: 10 mayors from South King County ask Inslee to reopen construction industry, April 22, 2020
Why the construction industry is essential to local toilet paper stocks
Tri-City Herald Editorial: Can’t find paper products? Tell Gov. Inslee to allow more construction, April 17, 2020
Tacoma News Tribune: Builders urge Inslee to allow construction to resume with precautions for COVID-19, April 16, 2020
Everett Herald: Inslee: We are not close, yet, to lifting restrictions, April 15, 2020
KREM2: Spokane Mayor Woodward joins calls for Gov. Inslee to allow home construction, April 10, 2020
Vancouver Wash. Business Journal: Construction still on hold in Washington, while Oregon surges forward, April 10, 2020
Lacamas Magazine: CLARK COUNTY COUNCIL TO GOV: CHANGE ‘NON ESSENTIAL’ CONSTRUCTION DESIGNATION, April 10, 2020
Spokane Public Radio: Spokane County Asks Governor To Make Home Construction Essential, April 9, 2020
The Columbian Editorial: In Our View: Construction restrictions need to be recalibrated, April 9, 2020
The Lens: Efforts continue to recognize construction as “essential activity,” April 9, 2020
MyNorthwest: Pressure mounts for Gov. Inslee to restart private construction projects, April 9, 2020
KGW8: Most construction in Clark County shut down after Washington stay-home order, April 9, 2020
The Columbian: Clark County construction industry urges Inslee to rethink its status, April 8, 2020
Q13FOX: Home construction workers deemed non-essential amid COVID-19, leaving families scrambling for housing, April 8, 2020
Yakima Herald-Republic Editorial: Editorial: Inslee should let building industry get back to work, April 7, 2020
Longview Daily News: Resume residential construction to keep mills, and toilet paper, going (reprint), April 7, 2020
Opportunity Washington: Time to ease pandemic restrictions on construction in Washington?, April 6, 2020
Seattle Times Opinion, Mark Schoesler: Governor’s stay-home order could use a dose of flexibility, consistency, April 5, 2020
Yakima-Herald: CONSTRUCTION REDUCTION Washington construction industry makes case for getting back to work — safely, April 5, 2020
Seattle Times Editorial: Resume residential construction to keep mills, and toilet paper, going, April 3, 2020
Congressman Newhouse asks Inslee to deem residential construction as ‘essential’, April 3, 2020
KREM2 Spokane: Coronavirus stalls work at Spokane Habitat for Humanity homes, April 3, 2020
The Lens: Builders say construction is “essential activity”, March 30, 2020
Background
The Dept. of Homeland Security’s Mar. 28, 2020 critical essential workforce during COVID-19 includes:
- “Workers who support sawmills and the manufacture and distribution of fiber and forest products, including, but not limited to timber, paper, and other wood and fiber products,” and
- “Workers performing housing construction related activities to ensure additional units can be made available to combat the nation’s existing housing supply shortage.”
On Mar. 23, 2020, Gov. Jay Inslee’s issued a Stay Home – Stay Healthy Order, and recognized workers who manufacture and distribute forest products, and paper as part of the critical, essential workforce, but did not include commercial and residential housing construction. When sawmills produce lumber for the residential housing market, they produce wood residues used in pulp, paper, and biomass fuel. Due to the integrated nature of the forest products industry, stopping production in the residential construction segment of the supply chain, ripples throughout the whole supply chain, interrupting essential products produced for housing and consumer wood and paper products.
WFPA Letters:
In response to Dept. of Homeland Security’s announcement, the Washington Forest Protection Association (WFPA) and the American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) submitted a joint letter to Gov. Jay Inslee urging him to make a similar declaration to promote both forest and economic health. The letter pointed out that wood building products are the “principal building material used across a myriad of infrastructure projects, including emergency medical and lodging structures, temporary buildings, as well as timely refurbishing or re-purposing of existing facilities for immediate use.”
In response to commercial and residential housing construction being left off the list of Washington’s essential workforce, WFPA, AFRC, NWPPA and AF&PA submitted a joint letter to Gov. Jay Inslee urging him to include construction as part of the essential workforce. The letter pointed out that the forest products sector in Washington exists as one synergistic industry. Raw logs, lumber, and the paper products needed for sanitation and hygiene products do not exist in isolated industries.
On April 14, 2020 Unanimous agreement delivered to the Governor. The Construction Roundtable, consisting of three trade labor unions and three business groups came to a unanimous agreement on safely opening Phase I low-risk commercial and residential construction sites. The groups is now working on Phase II protocols for jobs that are of higher risk.
On April 24, 2020, Governor Inslee issued Proclamation 20-25, reopening Phase I low-risk construction.