WSDA Takes Additional Steps To Promote Social Distancing

As the state of Washington continues to battle COVID-19, the state Department of Agriculture is taking additional steps to promote social distancing. Last week, WSDA announced that offices across the state would be closed for the foreseeable future.

WSDA’s Hector Castro said that’s not the only change they’ve made. He said License Pesticide test have been changed as well, at least for those taking the tests.

“And those typically attract a lot of people, and we typically have them packed tightly, elbow-to-elbow, in testing rooms.  Well, we can’t do that right now.  So, the program postponed some of those tests to give them time to find larger spaces, they are reducing the test sizes to no more than ten people at a time.”

That means additional test dates need to be scheduled. Click Here to learn more about changes to the pesticide license program.

The Licenses tests are not the only changes. Castro said WSDA has altered it’s activity in the Food Service Division.

“And we have suspended some of the routine inspections to focus on food safety investigations and the kind of work we can do either remotely or without actually having to physically interact with people.  The type like processing licensing applications and things like that.”

Click Here to learn more about the WSDA's efforts to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

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