Though the governor annoonced his “recovery plan” tonight, it was devoid of dates. That tops tonight’s roundup:

‘A SAFE RETURN TO PUBLIC LIFE’: That seems to be the subtitle for what Gov. Inslee discussed in tonight’s short speech; our coverage, with video, is here, including notes from the non-streamed media Q&A shortly afterward. His office has since published a “policy brief” including this visual explanation:

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Seattle-King County Public Health data dashboard:

*5,379 people have tested positive, up 86 from yesterday

*372 people have died, up 12 from yesterday

One week ago, those totals were 4,620 and 303.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them here.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: Find them here.

BUDGET HIT: The city estimates COVID-19 will take $210 million to $300 million from its coffers. This news release explains some of what’s being done about that.

CO2 SHORTAGE? Reader Lara called our attention to this report in The Guardian, suggesting a pandemic-related carbon-dioxide supply shortage,might affect water treatment. She hadn’t seen anything about it in local media. So we asked the city about it. The response:

Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) was made aware of a supply chain issue involving CO2 in early April 2020. We quickly worked to find solutions to the potential issue, including identifying back-up chemical suppliers and sourcing options.

After detailed discussions with the vendor and other utilities, SPU determined that its vendor can meet the Utility’s CO2 supply needs. The vendor considers SPU an essential customer, a designation which gives highest priority for deliveries. To date, there has not been any interruption in CO2 delivery.

SPU will continue to closely monitor its chemical storage levels, future chemical needs and vendor supplies.

SPU has identified backup treatment options if future CO2 supplies become limited. Even if there was a shortage of carbon dioxide in the future, water delivery from the treatment plant would not be compromised.

SPU uses CO2 “for pH adjustment at the Tolt Treatment Plant,” which supplies about 30 percent of Seattle water. (More background on city water, by the way, is in this WSB story from 2016.)

SCAM ALERT: Scammers are continuing to try to take advantage of people worried about COVID-19. Here’s the latest warning.

QUARANTINE REINDEER: In last night’s roundup, we featured another cheer-providing display, an inflatable dragon. Tonight – Diane‘s photo of Rudolph‘s springtime return.

She spotted Rudolph east west of Westwood Village.

GOT INFO? westseattleblog@gmail.com or text/voice 206-293-6302 – thank you!

4:59 PM: That’s the TVW livestream of Gov. Inslee announcing his plan for the state’s recovery. We’ll be adding coverage notes of both his speech and a media Q&A scheduled at 5:45 pm.

“The spread of COVID-19 is likely declining in Washington,” the governor says he’s been told. He acknowledges that people are eager to get back to work and reopen businesses. He says reopening will be “more like turning a dial than flipping a switch.” But “we will not be able to lift many of the restrictions by May 4th.”

He says it will be a “strategic” recovery plan that “begins with widely available testing for individuals who may have had COVID-19” and contact tracing that he says 1,500 people will be working on “by the second week of May.” But the state is lacking in testing supplies – it has “more lab capacity than test kits,” he says. About 4,000 tests are being processed per day and that should be more like 20,000, he says.

Workplaces “are going to look much different” until there’s a vaccine, he says. “We’re going to provide guidance to let industries know when and how they can reopen. … We’re going to have to steel ourselves against this virus … for many months.” He says many innovations will be needed for “life in the era of COVID-19.” He will be appointing “three groups consisting of key community leaders” soon, focused on reopening as well as social services.

He concludes his speech at 5:10 pm with no mention of dates. We’ll pick up the coverage again when his media Q&A, scheduled for 5:45 pm, begins.

5:45 PM: The video window above now shows the governor’s speech, archived. We are listening to the media briefing via phone. The governor’s chief of staff David Postman reiterates what the governor mentioned as three areas that will likely see relaxed restrictions in the “near term” – elective surgery, residential construction, and outdoor recreation.

Overall “it’s not going to be a simple process” of restarting multiple industries, he says, “lot of work to be done on that.”

First question is about time frames. “Some of the things the governor mentioned could happen before May 4th.” What kind of a heads-up would other industries get? The state would want to “work with them so they are ready when it’s time.” How soon can the testing needs mentioned by the governor get ramped up? That’s unknown because of “supply chain issues.”

Then: What “modeling” was the governor referring to, that he hopes to see later this week for potential decision-making? One # is the infection rate – they’re looking for each infected person to be infecting fewer than one other.

Then: What does “outdoor recreation” refer to? Too soon to say. After that, another question trying to clarify time frames. “We have work to do between now and May 4th on” the aforementioned three things, the chief of staff says, but no elaboration beyond that.

6:05 PM: As for working toward reopening more businesses, the Commerce Department director says they want to hear from businesses – especially” “small and main-street businesses” about what they need to operate safely.

Then: What industries after medical and construction? “We don’t have that answer,” says Postman. Can cities/counties go rogue and reopen before the state gives its OK? They can be stricter, but not looser, than the state requires, he says. (Franklin County is going rogue and Postman says they are “preparing a letter” because “it’s not legal.” He adds that it’s important to hear from local officials who support the restrictions to speak up, too.)

6:24 PM: Another question about the frustration felt by people who think it’s time to reopen; Postman says the governor understands that, but protests like the one last weekend in Olympia are not going to change their “data-driven” course. “Nobody should think they are out of the woods on this,” he warns, even the counties that have not been hit hard. He also says he hopes people will be encouraged by some restrictions possibly lifting in the “days or week ahead.”

The Q&A ends at 6:26 pm.

8:14 PM: Here’s the governor’s office’s writeup, which in turn links to this “policy brief” (PDF).

Governor Inslee has just announced a 5 pm speech that he says will “lay out Washington’s plan for recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak.” This comes with two weeks to go until the current expiration of the stay-home order. It’ll be livestreamed via TVW; we’ll also carry it here, with as-it-happens notes, including coverage of a media briefing/Q&A he and other state officials are having at 5:45 pm.