Science in Support of Local Decision Making for COVID-19: A Dialogue with Spokane Communities

In November 2021, the Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS) hosted the third in a series of dialogue events on how COVID-19 is affecting local communities. The purpose of the dialogue series is to bring together scientific experts and community members to discuss issues being navigated by local communities. This event was designed and planned through months-long engagement with community members and organizations in the greater Spokane region to understand which issues were most pressing for them. The engagement was not a comprehensive representation from the area, but it was a chance to hear from multiple perspectives about challenges that stood out and questions that were top of mind. WSAS connected with its statewide network of scientific and technical experts to complement local expertise from a broad set of community members.

This virtual event focused on the relationship between growth and health in the context of ongoing development in the greater Spokane region, which is made up of urban, suburban, and rural communities totaling roughly 575,000 people. The pandemic brought an influx of new residents to the Spokane region, which had major effects on the ability of already-stretched existing resources and services to provide for this growing region.