Dem WA Gov Ends Indoor Dining For Next 30 Days

Seattle’s NBC News affiliate reports:

Gov. Jay Inslee has announced new statewide restrictions to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, which includes closing indoor service for restaurants and bars and prohibiting indoor social gatherings. These rules will mostly go into effect on Monday at 11:59 p.m. and will remain in effect until Dec. 14.

In-store retail limited to 25% indoor occupancy and must close any common/congregate non-food-related seating areas. Food court indoor seating is closed. Indoor social gatherings from people outside your household are prohibited and outdoor social gatherings should be limited to 5 people outside your household.

Fitness facilities and gyms are closed for indoor operations. Outdoor fitness classes may still occur but they are limited by the outdoor gathering restriction listed above.

The Seattle Times reports:

“Time is of the essence here, what we know is, if you act early you can save lives and if you don’t you’ll be swamped by a tsunami of the virus,” Inslee said. “This is in our hands, we make a decision whether this pandemic is going to swallow us whole.”

Inslee talked about other states that haven’t acted and now have hospitals canceling non-urgent surgeries and “semi trucks with ice” because their morgues are filled.

Despite a statewide mask mandate and current restrictions on businesses, the pandemic has been rapidly spreading in Washington. The state, for the last two weeks, has been breaking previous infection records almost daily.