Message from the Kirkland City Council

Published on May 01, 2020

Media Contact:
Kellie Stickney
Communications Program Manager
kstickney@kirklandwa.gov
(425) 979-6562

Message from the Kirkland City Council:

Wednesday, April 29 marked two months since the City of Kirkland activated our Emergency Operations Center in response to the first reported death from COVID-19 at the Life Care Center of Kirkland. Our city was thrust into the national spotlight as the first “epicenter” of this deadly disease in the United States. We watched as dozens of our first responders were placed into quarantine, as families suffered the loss of their loved ones, and as everything around us changed and was shrouded in uncertainty. And we acted. We moved quickly and decisively using the best information from available experts to adapt our operations and provide resources to our community to protect our residents. We immediately started thinking of the economic impacts of the order and started coming up with strategies, including coordinating with the federal, state and county governments, to support people in need, struggling local businesses, and non-profits.

As your City Council, we acknowledge what a tremendous burden this has been on all of our residents, businesses, and essential workers. No one could have predicted the ways in which life has changed over the last two months. We are incredibly proud of our community for taking this public health threat seriously and doing their part to keep us all safe. We’ve been amazed by the generosity and support you’ve shown each other, whether by buying a gift card from a local business, delivering groceries for a neighbor in-need, or stepping to the side to allow for physical distance when utilizing our parks. There are not adequate words to express our gratitude.

Each day that passes comes with additional sacrifices. The uncertainty as to when this will all be over is one of the most challenging aspects of the situation. Governor Inslee said that it is unlikely many restrictions under his “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order will be modified before May 4. Rather, his plan is a framework for the loosening of restrictions contingent on a steady decrease in COVID-19 disease activity, sufficient testing capacity and availability, sufficient capacity to conduct case and contact investigations, readiness of the state’s health care system, and low risk to our community’s vulnerable populations.

In the meantime, as a City Council, we are preparing. We know that there will be no quick return to business as usual. There will be significant impacts on our city budget. We’re focusing on managing what is within our control: most importantly, how we can keep staff and the community safe while continuing to provide necessary government services. These are difficult conversations that are currently resulting in more questions than answers, but our City Council and staff are prepared for this difficult work.

As these conversations progress, we will need your engagement. Our democracy depends on public participation. We will all have to be part of the recovery process. To make sure that your voice is heard, please sign-up for our newsletter by visiting https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/WAKIRK/subscriber/new or follow our Facebook and Twitter accounts.

We don’t yet know the timeline for when the governor will ease the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order, but when he does, we in Kirkland will be ready. In the meantime, we thank you again for your patience and continued cooperation in staying home, maintaining at least six feet of physical distance from others when you need to go out, and wearing a face mask when in public. We were the first epicenter in the United States to experience the intensity of this disease. Let’s now join together to be the epicenter of hope and resilience. Please continue to care for yourselves and your neighbors. We will emerge a stronger Kirkland because of our commitment to each other.