As local residents of North Bend, Washington it has come to our attention that the CDC is planning to open a Coronavirus Quarantine Facility in North Bend, Washington the only one of it’s kind not located on a military base in the country and many residents are concerned about plans to open a Coronavirus Quarantine facility in a repurposed Firefighter training center just outside of our city limits.

Besides all of the concerns others have about the safety aspects of locating this in North Bend when ALL of the other facilities around the country are located inside of military bases according to reports online, this is very disturbing. No notice was given to local residents of North Bend, Washington. No city hall meeting to explain this choice, explain the possible risks of a facility like this in our community and why our community was chosen.

This is NOT "like" the FLU:

This is NOT the flu… everyone that is casual about this virus and its possible effects compares it to the FLU and says: “Why worry? The flu is worse already… “

Well, here is some reasoning as to why it is not “like the flu” and why as a community we are worried.

From what is being reported by the medical community globally:

• Antibiotics are totally ineffective on the Coronavirus
• There are no antiviral medications that work on on the Coronavirus
• There is no vaccine available for the Coronavirus
• People are at a far greater risk of being infected with the Coronavirus than the Flu as most people already have Flu antibodies in their system that can help them if they get the Flu as the Flu has been around for a very long time. Since this is a NEW virus, this is not the case.
• There is no known cure for the Coronavirus (not to say that everyone that gets it will die).

Local residents are extremely worried about this and look into what opening facilities like this can do to property values and the perception of a town with a facility like this. Much like when a prison or some other "negatively perceived" facility is opened in a town, it has a very real and negative stigma associated with it that could have disastrous consequences for a small town like North Bend that relies on a big portion of it's income from visitors.

North Bend is the ONLY PLACE IN THE COUNTRY they are choosing to place one of these facilities outside of a Military Base and we think it is totally fair to ask questions and get answers about how they can ensure our safety and economy won't be affected by this BEFORE the facility is opened for business and they start bringing patients exposed to the Coronavirus to our town.

As a community, we feel for the people that have been exposed to the virus and want them to receive the help and care they need, but we question the wisdom (until the community knows more and is given a chance to provide input and be educated more completely about this facility) of housing them in a facility used to train firefighters and not a proper hospital or medical facility on a military base or other location where it does not risk the safety and reputation of an amazing and stunningly beautiful mountain town like North Bend, Washington.

According to news reports, in California, the CDC moved the landing strip for inbound flights of exposed/quarantined patients to an airstrip located even further from Los Angeles when the first selection was 64 miles from Los Angeles. The decision was made to locate the facility even further than this to reduce risk. The facility being proposed here in North Bend is less than 6 miles from the center of town.

Articles like these have just started showing up and local North Bend, Washington residents have been given ZERO chance to provide input or comments on this being done in our town.

Komo News

https://komonews.com/news/local/north-bend-fire-training-facility-to-be-used-as-coronavirus-quarantine-site

King 5 News

https://www.king5.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/federal-coronavirus-quarantine-site-created-in-north-bend/281-cd0fea34-feea-4794-b79b-4ca402fc8cc7

Seattle Times

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/coronavirus-quarantine-facility-to-be-located-in-north-bend/

Patch

https://patch.com/washington/sammamish/north-bend-facility-chosen-novel-coronavirus-quarantine-site

Confirmed Cases Map By Johns Hopkins CSSE

https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

We feel that we should have been given a chance to comment and ask questions about this before it was just announced on the news that the only center of this kind is being located in our town when every single other facility like this in the US is located in a military base.

We ask that this facility be stopped immediately from being opened until the community has been given a chance to weigh in on the decision and to be given a proper chance to be educated more on why this is a good idea and how our community will remain safe. We believe as a community we should have the right to weigh in on this decision and given a chance to voice our concerns and provide feedback.

Please sign this petition and show your support if you too are concerned about this facility and the various risks posed to the community of North Bend and the entire Snoqualmie Valley region.