Rural Skamania County is cautious about reopening to visitors amid few confirmed Covid-19 cases

Several Washington counties can now proceed to the second phase of Gov. Jay Inslee's economic reopening plan. Beautiful Skamania County in southwest Washington, with a population 11,000, is one of them.

While having more business activity sounds like good news, many are worried about what lies ahead.

Philip Watness, the editor of the Skamania County Pioneer newspaper, spoke to KUOW about those concerns.

This interview has been edited for clarity:

You have a dramatic landscape. On the Oregon side, Multnomah Falls is a huge international draw. On our side, we've got the Gifford Pinchot National Forest which takes up something like 80% of our landmass.

It’s a beautiful drive. You can lose yourself and go hunting and fishing on the Columbia River. The other thing is that it's right close to Vancouver and Portland. Many of our visitors are day-trippers.

The restaurants in particular are concerned they won't be able to have the ability to handle an influx of people, because their facilities are rather small. Some places are planning to do outdoor seating.

I'd say most people are just sort of nervous about what's next. We are very fortunate that we only had three confirmed cases out of now 250 cases tested, since early April, but that's because people here are really respecting social distance.

We see through media reports that other places are not. I'm fearful, personally, that we'll see the same impacts that the Oregon coast is seeing when the weather heats up. It could be a crowd.

I think it's too soon to tell [how people feel moving into the summer months]. The decision was just yesterday -- it moved quick. There's no real firm answers for many businesses. We’re just going to have to brace it and wait and see what happens.

The main message that we would love to convey is, please, respect our home like you want us to respect your home. Some of the rules remain in effect about staying home, staying closer to home, bringing your own food, your own fuel, don't make unnecessary stops. We just ask that people to be respectful of our needs.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.