THREE MONTHS ago, we summarized the COVID-19 battle in Yakima, Washington, in this journal. Yakima is the epicenter of COVID-19 cases per capita in the state of Washington as it was in the spring. Essential workers in this predominantly agricultural region were heavily affected by infections, had insufficient testing, and could not self-isolate due to the need to work and their congregate living situations (large family units, congregate housing). At that time, the county was overcoming the resistance of many members of the community-politicians and skeptical people-to masking and social distancing. Hospitals were overflowing, and individuals needing care for common conditions were being shunted out of the community. They initially had only 35% mask use and were able to increase that to 65% with a local masking directive, followed by a mandate from the Governor, paired with widespread distribution of free masks and an abundance of education.

Today, COVD-19 infections have stabilized, the hospitals have reserve capacity, new high-volume testing, and some supportive isolation is in place, but the battle with disinformation continues and is more insidious. The good news is that testing has gotten better and isolation has improved. Case counts are stable at 20 to 25 per day from a peak of almost 150 cases daily. They have only had 3 deaths in the past 3 weeks as opposed to 1 to 2 per day at the peak. They are still in modified phase 1-one of only 5 counties that have not advanced to phase 2 or 3. The recent fires caused terrible air conditions that required the health department and the agricultural industry to source thousands of N-95 masks to workers in the fields. The good news is that the communications and outreach efforts with community health workers have elevated the use of masks to 95%.

But taking advantage of pandemic fatigue, a local group has launched a widespread publicity campaign to return to normal. Using health department data, but removing people who are older than 65 years or with chronic diseases, they claim that the only 17 people have died this year from COVID-19. They also claim that because less than 1% of the county is currently infected, that it is safe to reopen further, and their advertisements depict people without masks and in close proximity. At the peak of cases in June, 0.5% of the county was actively infected with COVID-19, and this 0.5% led to overwhelm of hospital capacity. This manipulation of statistics and resulting misinformation is threatening, not just the progress of the county toward reopening including our ability to conduct school in person but also the safety and health of the very residents the campaign is targeting.

The progress that has been made is now at risk. There is a collective desire to get kids back to school safely as many of the most affected families may not have reliable Internet access or an adult to assist with distance learning. The local health department is working with area education leaders to finalize recommendations around safe school openings, which is jeopardized by disregard of safety requirements. A partial opening of restaurants, churches, and fitness facilities could get rolled back if rates increase.

The unfortunately misinformed resistors are fighting the wrong battle. They think the way forward is to deny the impact of the pandemic. But the truth is our economy will improve once we can further bring the infection rates down (think Europe) and people can gain confidence in the institutions in our community so that they feel safe at restaurants, stores, and schools. The anti-science movement in Yakima is looking to benefit from denial, but the kids, the elderly, those with chronic diseases, and indeed the entire community pay the price.