3 Counties Move Forward To Next Phase Of Reopening Plan

SEATTLE, WA — Wednesday the state Secretary of Health approved variance applications of three more counties, allowing them to move forward in Gov. Inslee's Safe Start plan to reopen businesses.

First, Asotin County was approved to enter Phase 3, making it the ninth county to enter the third phase. Phase 3 allows outdoor activities and sporting events for groups of 50 or fewer people and greatly loosens all traveling restrictions. Skamania county has also applied to enter Phase 3, though that application remains under review.

The second and third counties to receive approvals were Chelan and Douglas counties. Chelan and Douglas counties are served by the same health district, and as a result have to move through the phases together. To move forward to the next phase a county must have the unanimous support of their health district, hospitals and government leaders.

Chelan and Douglas did not qualify to enter Phase 2 of the Safe Start program, so they are entering a 'modified Phase 1' like the one established for King County. Modified Phase 1 allows for the return of some businesses, like manufacturers and restaurants, but with even stricter restrictions than under a full Phase 2 reopening.

Now that these three counties have moved on, there are just three counties remaining in a full Phase 1 lockdown: Benton and Franklin, who also share a health district and have applied to enter Phase 2 together, and Yakima County, which is seeing the majority of new coronavirus cases in Washington and is ineligible to move forward.

When a county applies to move to the next phase, it is judged by a number of metrics, but the state says there are five key metrics they look at:

• The number of new coronavirus cases per every 100,000 residents over the last two weeks.
• The number of individuals tested per each new case.
• The percent of individuals who were tested and received positive results.
• The percentage of occupied hospital beds.
• The percentage of hospital beds occupied by coronavirus patients.

Overall, Washington state is meeting its goals for three of those metrics: there are enough unoccupied hospital beds and just 2.6 percent of hospital beds are being used to treat coronavirus patients, but the other metrics are still a ways off. In particular, the state has set a goal of just 25 or fewer new coronavirus patients per every 100,000 residents every two weeks, but right now we're seeing 46.8 patients, almost double the goal.

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