A successful survey will typically garner a response from about 5% of the people who receive it.

A survey sent out last week by the city of Spokane about its COVID-19 response efforts and plans to reopen the local economy garnered nearly double that.

Although its results are unscientific, the survey demonstrated to city officials, if nothing else, that the public is engaged in the COVID-19 pandemic and wants to weigh in on the path ahead.

In just a few days, more than 10,000 people participated in the process.

In 11 questions, the survey probed, among other things, whether respondents approved of the state and city governments’ response to the crisis, if they supported the idea of loosening restrictions on the economy regionally instead of statewide, and the level of concern people feel about contracting COVID-19.

With prompts like “the progress made in reducing daily case counts is sufficient to begin selectively reopening the economy,” the survey was perceived by some to be leading and designed to support officials’ stated goal of developing a regional plan to restart the economy.

The survey was never intended to be scientific and won’t be used to determine policy decisions moving forward, city spokesman Brian Coddington stressed, but it provided an opportunity for the public to weigh in on the city’s response to the pandemic thus far.

Coddington said it was primarily used as a way to gauge the efficacy of the city’s communication efforts, which have taken on many forms, including a regular newsletter and video updates from Mayor Nadine Woodward posted to the city website.

“It was simply a point-in-time snapshot survey to give us feedback about how we’re doing communicating,” Coddington said.

The survey was distributed first on April 20 through the city newsletter, which reaches about 95,000 people. Overnight, it received engagement beyond what city officials had anticipated.

In response to the initial public interest and in an effort to engage a wider audience outside the city of Spokane, the city distributed a second version of the survey through its social media platforms on April 21 and posted it to the city website on April 22.

The only difference between the first and second versions of the survey was that the latter requested the ZIP code of the participant. About 15% of respondents to the second version were from outside the city of Spokane.

On the newsletter alone, the city received about 8,200 responses. That’s a response rate of about 9%, about double what is considered a successful survey. An additional 2,653 people filled out the survey that was issued through social media and on the city’s website.

Those who responded to the second version of the survey, distributed digitally, tended to feel more conservatively about reopening the economy.

The majority of respondents endorsed both the city and state responses to the pandemic.

Most expressed some level of concern that a second wave of the virus could strike, and felt the governor’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order is beginning to be taken less seriously.

While the survey makes clear that “nobody is looking for a rush to reopen,” Coddington said it’s also apparent people are interested in a plan and a clear path forward – even if there’s not a specific timeline attached to it.

A sizable majority of respondents also endorsed the idea of a regional plan to reopen the economy based on local data.

Woodward has advocated the Spokane region be allowed to reopen its economy on its own timeline and based on its own public health data, but in a methodical and measured way that can be paused if there is a resurgence in new COVID-19 cases.

Appearing on a Seattle-based Q13 FOX program on Sunday, Woodward said, “We’re hurting and we are struggling over here in a way that I don’t think Western Washington is, and probably doesn’t understand.”

She argued the economy in Spokane County won’t be able to rebound like that on the West Side.

“We don’t have the Amazons and the Boeings that boost the economy. Over here, it’s hospitality, it’s tourism – we’re a regional hub for so much of that,” Woodward said.

It remains to be seen if Woodward and other Spokane County leaders – who have stopped short of advocating that the region defy the governor’s orders – will win his support for their plan.

“That remains an open conversation. We’re doing everything we can to supply data that’s specific to Spokane and Eastern Washington to make sure our voice is heard at the state level,” Coddington said.

In a conversation with The Spokesman-Review last week, Inslee said regional opening might be possible “on segments.” For example, Inslee said elective surgeries might be allowed to continue in areas of the state that can demonstrate they have adequate surge capacity in their hospitals and enough personal protective equipment.

“We’ll be open to ideas in the future to these kinds of suggestions,” Inslee said.

But Inslee also warned that the most effective restrictions can be in places where the virus has yet to take a heavy toll. He noted the virus has already impacted Eastern Washington, pointing to the closure of a Tyson meatpacking plant in Wallula after 100 COVID-19 cases were identified.

“We just are not out of the woods yet, and what’s 10 cases in Spokane today could be 100 cases in the next week and a half,” he said.

Spokane Councilwoman Lori Kinnear, who last week criticized the survey as tailored to garner specific answers, again questioned its utility on Tuesday. Kinnear, who serves as chair of the city’s Public Safety and Community Health Committee, said she wants to hear people’s opinions “99% of the time,” but not when that opinion can’t be counted on to make a decision.

“To ask someone who is not a doctor, an epidemiologist or a person who has the latest information about what they think – it’s not fruitful,” Kinnear said.

Greater Spokane Inc. is in regular contact with Spokane Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz, spokeswoman Cara Coon said, and is letting him and Gov. Jay Inslee “guide our decision-making.”

“We understand Dr. Lutz, from a health crisis point of view, is really the decision-maker on how our county can or cannot go forward, outside of the governor’s plan,” Coon said.

The business organization isn’t driving the decision to open or not reopen the economy, but is instead focused more on preparing the different sectors of the economy in Spokane County for when restrictions are lifted.

“Where GSI is focused is both on bringing businesses back into the economy and online, but there’s two other sides to that – your workers have to feel safe coming back into your space, and your customers have to feel safe coming back into your space,” Coon said.

The city survey showed people are concerned about a second wave of the disease, but also that the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order is being taken less seriously.

“It tells us that we probably need to spend more time on reminding people of the dangers of the disease,” Coddington said, adding that “we can’t let people get complacent.”

Ultimately, public health will continue to drive the conversation about reopening the economy and modifications to the stay-home order or whatever restrictions come in its wake, according to Coddington.

But, he added, “public perception is an important piece of the response as well, so we make sure we have our finger on the pulse of what people are feeling and what people are thinking.”