Washington Governor refuses to reform emergency powers after state reopening

Washington State Democrat Governor Jay Inslee said he won't reform emergency powers granted to him at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in an interview with Q13 Fox on Thursday. He then self-declared his pandemic performance "award-winning" after he shutdown the economy for more than a year, permanently stripping away the livelihoods of thousands of residents in the state.

When asked whether or not he would reform emergency powers, Governor Inslee said, "We have had such tremendous success in our state relative to other states. I don’t see a reason for that."

"The calls we have made have been very difficult but they have succeeded," Inslee continued. "I'm not sure you want to go back and reform when you've won the Super Bowl. And we've won the Super Bowl of the COVID pandemic."

However, one can easily conclude with readily-available data that the Governor's claims fail to hold value and his decision to shutdown the economy was anything but "award-winning," especially to business owners across the state who don't have a business to return to.

According to statistics from the Washington State Hospitality Association [WHA], there were more than 2,369 closures within the food service industry across the state of Washington. Out of those 2,369 closures, 1,023 restaurants have permanently shutdown in King County–624 in Seattle.

The findings were based on phone calls made to the 15,000 restaurants across Washington in August and September. The responses were based on those owners who responded to the survey. It’s unclear how many participated, according to The Seattle Times.

Economic deterioration isn't the only repercussion from Governor Inslee's forced lockdowns. Mental health declined across the state after citizens were forced to stay-at-home to "stop the spread", and as a result, the suicide rate in Washington state increased.

According to the United Health Foundation, suicides in the state of Washington increased from 19.4 percent to 21.5 percent between the ages of 15-24. Between the ages of 75-84, suicides increased from 20.8 percent to 26.2 percent. While nearly every age bracket saw an increase in suicides, these age groups experienced the largest increase. Suicides in Washington increased even though the national average for death by suicide nearly stayed constant.

Alcoholism, substance abuse, addiction and death from drug overdoses in adults and teens have all skyrocketed during the mandated closures in the state.

Inslee even sent COVID positive patients to elderly care facilities, and bribed the institutions with Medicaid funds to take them, despite knowing the elderly were more at risk for the virus, and after entire facilities were wiped out from the virus at the start of the virus outbreak.

Inslee's claims of having greater success than other state's fail to hold value as states like Florida, Texas, and South Dakota experienced a rapid decline in COVID-19 deaths after fully re-opening their economies and ending mandatory mask mandates months before the state of Washington.

Washington state, along with Oregon and New Mexico, were among the last states to reopen after the coronavirus pandemic swept through the US. Washington and Oregon re-opened on June 30 while New Mexico re-opened July 1.