Another Positive COVID-19 Case in Mason County

A Mason County woman was reported as testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) on Friday, June 5, 2020. Mason County Public Health says this woman in her 50’s is currently hospitalized as contact interviews continue. This latest positive test brings the County’s total to 37. However, there are now only two active cases in Mason County.

If you are showing symptoms for COVID-19, early testing is encouraged. At the earliest signs of symptoms please reach out to the Respiratory illness triage line at 360-427-3615. They can assist you in scheduling an appointment at Mason Health’s Drive Thru COVID-19 testing.

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Claims for Unemployment Continue to Decrease

During the week of May 24-30, there were 31,224 initial regular unemployment claims (down 36% from the prior week) and 774,959 total claims for all unemployment benefit categories (a decrease of 155,423) filed by Washingtonians, according to the Employment Security Department (ESD). ESD believes the continued decrease is due to a variety of reasons including fraud prevention measures and more people going back to work with the reopening of some industry sectors and regions over the past three weeks.

In Mason County, there were 216 new claims for unemployment last week (May 24 to May 30), down from 326 the week before (May 17 to May 23).

ESD paid out over $514.7 million for 400,352 individual claims.

Unemployment claim type	Week of May 24-30	Week of May 17-23	Week of May 10-16
Regular Unemployment Insurance (UI) initial claims	31,224	48,445	138,733
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) initial claims	12,878	21,250	61,325
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) initial claims	10,176	19,111	59,630
Continued/ongoing weekly claims	720,681	841,576	1,410,892
Total claims	774,959	930,382	1,670,580

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Paving Brings Lane Closures to SR 302

During the week of June 8, overnight travelers who use State Route 302 near Minter Creek are encouraged to give themselves extra time to reach their destinations.

Contractor crews building new fish passable structures will conduct pavement repairs along a one-mile stretch of highway between 150th Ave. NW and 138th Ave. NW during the following times:

Monday, June 8 and Wednesday, June 10 – Friday, June 12
- Each night from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. each following day.
- No work is scheduled for the night of Tuesday, June 9.

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Secretary of Health Talks Phase 3 Application Process

Mason County is planning on applying to move from Phase 2 of the Governor’s Safe Start Washington reopening plan to Phase 3. At a recent news conference, Washington State Secretary of Health John Wiesman, was asked about the application process. At the time of the news conference, no applications had been made.

Wiesman also explained what he will be reviewing once applications start coming in.

The earliest Mason County can apply for moving to Phase 3 is June 13th. Once approved, the County would announce a specific date to officially move Mason County’s status.

County Census Response Lagging Behind

Census response in Mason County is lagging behind most of country while those in the Shelton City Limits are just above the national average but still under the state average. The County’s response is about 48 percent and the City is sitting just shy of 62 percent. The national average is 60.5 percent while the State of Washington is almost 66 percent.

Last week, MasonWebTV Powered by HCC spoke to Toby Nelson, spokesperson for the Census Bureau in the Pacific Northwest, at length about the 2020 Census.

If you haven’t yet responded to the 2020 Census, simply go online to 2020census.gov to get started.

Watch Shelton City Council

[LIVE VIDEO] Watch the June 2, 2020 Shelton City Council meeting. Council members and City staff are meeting via Zoom video conferencing. MasonWebTV Powered by HCC is providing a live video stream of that Zoom meeting beginning at 6 PM. If you would like to provide public comment please email jeff.niten@sheltonwa.gov or call (360) 432-5105. Your comments will be relayed directly to the Council. There are two ways to watch the council meeting live at 6 PM: hcc.net/news and MasonWebTV.com. You can also watch on demand on hcc.net/news or MasonWebTV.com. Rebroadcasts on Hood Canal Communications’ local channel are Thursday at 3 PM and Saturday at 9 AM.

Click here for the meeting’s agenda.

County Extending Building Permits Due to COVID-19

Mason County Department of Community Services is extending building permit expiration dates another 180- days and will not cancel any building permit that was issued as of November 1, 2019, for reason of inactivity until at least one-year from the date of issuance or from the date of the last progress inspection.

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Application Open for NROTC Marine Scholarships

Are your student-athletes seeking college scholarship opportunities?

The Navy ROTC Scholarship with Marine Option program provides students $180,000 in scholarship money while earning commission as an officer upon graduation. Other benefits include full tuition, books, and academic related expenses at over 150 top colleges and universities. Students receive a monthly spending allowance and guaranteed employment for at least four years. Academically, applicants must have a minimum score on one of the below standardized tests. However, there is no minimum grade point average requirement.

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Watch Mason County Commission

[LIVE VIDEO] Watch the June 2, 2020 Mason County Commission meeting. There are three ways to watch live at 9 AM: hcc.net/news, MasonWebTV.com or Mason County’s website (co.mason.wa.us.) You can also watch on demand on hcc.net/news, MasonWebTV.com or Mason County’s website: co.mason.wa.us. Rebroadcasts on Hood Canal Communications’ local channel are Thursday at 6 PM, Saturday at 2 PM and Sunday at 9 AM.

Here is the meeting’s agenda:

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Watch Port of Allyn Commission

[VIDEO] The Port of Allyn Commission utilizes the services of MasonWebTV Powered by HCC to record their business meetings. The Port Commission met via the Zoom meeting platform on June 1, 2020. The video of that meeting is now available.