Spokane public health officials have recruited medical and nursing students to be part of an enhanced contact tracing team. Their job will be to contact and follow people who test positive for the coronavirus. One Washington State University medical student is already involved in a similar effort.

Spokane County Commissioner Al French: "If you want to spend all your money on food and rental assistance, then what happens when you run out of money? People are still unemployed."

Members of the Spokane Community, including the Spokane Alliance, discuss strategies for spending the county's funds in response to the current state of our community. 

The Spokane Regional Health District may rely on volunteers to help staff members expand their work to call people who had contact with people tested positive for the coronavirus.

The federal government is sending about $90 million from the coronavirus recovery fund to Spokane County. County commissioners say they’re interested in hearing how people want that to be divided.

Members of the Spokane Alliance worry that strategy will heavily tilt toward aid for business. Some of that is fine, they say. Bishop Gretchen Rehberg from the Episcopal Church urges the commissioners to think broadly.

Alisa Shaffer, who grew up in Morgan Acres and raised her children in the Hillyard and West Central neighborhoods, shared her skills and experiences to help legislators address housing issues in West Central Spokane and create HB 2497.She also learned about the legislative process as she stretched outside her comfort zone, interacting with political professionals to advocate for the bill.

Having both been diagnosed with COVID-19, Rev. Katie Haney and her husband are quarantining in their Spokane home. Their cases are mild and they’ve had each other to lean on while they recover. But many of the 274 people diagnosed with the virus in Spokane are having to isolate alone.“There’s so many people by themselves. It’s sad, nobody can come and minister to them,” Haney said. “I feel really bad for all these people that can’t be with loved ones when they’re so sick.”So when the Spokane Alliance put out a call for volunteers to make daily phone calls to check in on COVID-19 patients, she signed up.

To create a Spokane-based mobile clinic, WSU has partnered with the Spokane Alliance, a group of roughly 30 churches, nonprofits and other community organizations.

Spokane has an incredible opportunity to stand on the right side of domestic violence history this year by adopting an equitable safe and sick leave policy.

Passing a high-quality earned paid sick leave policy makes good sense for the health of the entire community.