Governor Inslee Signals Plan To Continue Stay Home Order Beyond May 4
Washingtonians have been living under Governor Jay Inslee’s “Stay Home-Stay Healthy” Order since March 23, 2020. The extended Stay Home restrictions are currently set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on May 4, 2020. Over the past week, the Governor has relaxed the “Stay Home” restrictions in two “Stay Home-Stay Healthy” amendments focused on the construction industry (Phase 1 Construction Restart) and outdoor recreation activities (Stay Home, Stay Healthy Adjustment). While these amendments may at first blush appear to be the Governor’s first steps in preparing to reopen the state following the current May 4 “Stay Home” Order expiration date, a better view is that these amendments telegraph a forthcoming second extension of the “Stay Home” restrictions beyond May 4th.
First, the April 24, 2020 Phase 1 Construction Restart addendum to the “Stay Home” Order rescinds previous gubernatorial “guidance related to construction from the essential business list.” The amendment also imposes new and detailed “Phase 1 Construction Restart COVID-19 Job Site Requirements” that “apply to all construction activities in Washington as long as Gubernatorial Proclamation 20-25, or any extension thereof, is in effect.” These new requirements must be satisfied “by no later than Friday, May 1” — only one business day before the current “Stay Home” Order is set to expire on May 4, 2020. It is highly unlikely that the Governor would impose such detailed requirements if he planned to let the “Stay Home” Order expire only one business day after the compliance deadline. (For more information about the Phase 1 Construction Restart, please see my colleague Andrew McKenzie’s detailed discussion of this “Stay Home” addendum on by clicking here and join our April 30 webinar to hear my colleague Bill Kessler present on COVID influence on the construction industry (click here to register for the webinar).
Second, on April 27, 2020, Governor Inslee issued Proclamation No. 20-25.2 “Adjusting Stay Home – Stay Healthy to May 4, 2020.” This “Stay Home” addenda opened certain “outdoor recreational activities” to the public including effective as of May 5, 2020, including:
- Recreational hunting, fishing and boating
- Outdoor exercise, including hiking, running, walking and biking
- Golfing
- Day-use activities at public parks and public lands
The Governor also issued detailed “social distancing and coronavirus related hygiene requirements” applicable to the newly opened outdoor activities, and declared that “all employees necessary to operating and maintain day-use activity and trails” are allowed to return to return to work as of April 27, 2020 to prepare for the May 5th re-opening. The May 5th re-opening date for these limited outdoor activities is notable because it is one day after the current “Stay Home” Order is set to expire. Thus, it appears that Governor Inslee intends to extend the general “Stay Home” deadline beyond May 4, 2020, even if he has not done so expressly in this amendment to the “Stay Home” Order.
The Governor’s comments during his April 27 news conference to announce the outdoor activity adjustments set forth in Proclamation No. 20-25.2 also signal a forthcoming extension of the “Stay Home” Order deadline to a yet-unannounced date. For example, while the outdoor activities listed above will re-open on May 5, 2020, Governor Inslee clarified that public gatherings, events, team sports, and camping are not resuming at this time. Furthermore, he clarified that the outdoor activities that will re-open on May 5th will still be limited generally to activities involving members of only a single residence, which is a restriction imposed by the original “Stay Home” Order that is currently set to expire on May 4, 2020. Governor Inslee announced that “[t]his is not a return to normal today. The virus is too rampant to allow that. This is only a beginning of a phase of relaxing our outdoor recreation. And if it is hurting our public efforts, we would have to change course again. Data, not dates, determine how we act.”
While the recent amendments signal that Washington State is entering a phase of re-opening, they also make clear—even if not expressly state—that the “Stay Home” restrictions are not going to disappear altogether on May 5, 2020.