NIMBY Seattle-Area Residents Resist Coronavirus Quarantine Plan For Local Motel

Seattle residents are pushing back against officials in King County, Washington, who plan to use emergency powers to buy and renovate an Econo Lodge located south of the city to house coronavirus patients, according to Bloomberg.

The mayor of Kent, Washington – a Seattle suburb near the airport where the 85-bed motel is located, was livid over the plan. While local workers and residents are staunchly opposed as well.

“We’re one of the largest cities in the county, and we know we have a role to play in preventing the spread of the virus,” said Kent Mayor Dana Ralph in a phone interview. “But we were not included in the conversation or decision making.”

This type of consternation is common when a community pushes back against an unwanted project — inspiring the term Nimby for “not in my backyard.” This time, the backlash comes as health officials try to contain a spreading public health crisis, revealing a challenge that many communities across the U.S. may face as they try to slow the outbreak.

“Washington state counties are not the only places where that is going to be discussed,” said Irwin Redlener, a disaster preparedness expert and public health professor at Columbia University in New York. “We might have to adopt procedures and protocols that would be unacceptable in the absence of a true national emergency. In other words, our standards might have to get much more lax.” –Bloomberg

Residents of Kent aren’t the only ones resisting quarantine plans. Last month, federal officials were forced to scrap a plan to house coronavirus evacuees from a cruise ship to a FEMA facility in Anniston, Alabama, after locals and the city council opposed the move.

In Orange County, California, residents are also up in arms over a proposal to place some patients in a state-owned facility.

The Econo Lodge plan would include $4 million for the purchase of the motel and an additional $1.5 million in emergency funds to renovate it, as well as hire as many as 11 existing employees to run the facility. It would be used to house coronavirus patients who are infected but not seriously ill, as part of an effort to keep hospital beds available for those who need them, according to Bloomberg. According to county officials, it was the only property on the market that met their criteria of separate heating and cooling systems for each room, and doors which open to the outside, rather than a hallway.

“From that perspective, a motel is a very good solution,” said NYU School of Public Health professor David Abramson. “They’re almost entirely private spaces.”

On Thursday morning, cars raced by on the highway behind the motel, where a room with a single bed was going for $78.68 a night. Trucks were parked at the edge of the property, which sits near a Denny’s, a bowling alley and a Ford dealership.

Inside, confusion and anger reigned. The front-desk worker at the motel, who asked to not be identified by name, said that she had learned about the plan to quarantine coronavirus patients from news reports and was strongly opposed. She had yet to hear from her manager whether she would still have a job. And, even if she did, she wasn’t sure she wanted it for fear of infecting her family. –Bloomberg

Without interference, the facility could open within two weeks. According to the report, King County officials are also looking at other quarantine locations, including in Seattle.

That is, if the locals don’t stand in the way.

“I’m sorry for the people who are going through this,” said 35-year-old Rupali Handa, who said that officials should quarantine people “somewhere else.”