Washington State’s East Region, which includes Adams, Asotin, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Orielle, Spokane, Stevens, and Whitman counties, will move to Phase 2 of the Roadmap to Recovery plan, Governor Jay Inslee announced Thursday. The switch to Phase 2 is effective Monday, February 15th.
The North, North Central, Northwest and Southwest regions will move to Phase 2 as well. With these five regions joining the West and Puget sound regions, who moved to Phase 2 on February 1st, seven of the eight regions in the state will be in Phase 2 come Monday.
The exception will be the South Central region, which includes Benton, Columbia, Franklin, Kittitas, Walla Walla, and Yakima counties. They will remain at Phase 1 for at least the next two weeks.
What’s New:
Moving to Phase 2 comes with many notable changes to how communities operate. Some of them include:
Retail stores, professional and personal services are permitted to operate at 25% capacity, although curbside pickup and remote work are still recommended. Restaurants are permitted for 25% indoor capacity, maximum 6 customers per table. Outdoor dining of course still permitted. Low to moderate risk indoor sports (including K-12) permitted to return; low, moderate, to high risk outdoor sports permitted to return with a maximum of 200 spectators. Indoor entertainment including theaters, concert halls, museums, event spaces, etc. allowed 25% capacity. If concessions are served, food and drink requirements apply.Indoor gatherings limited to a max of five people, outdoor gatherings limited to max of 15 people.
This is not a complete list. For more information on the state’s Roadmap to Recovery plan, click here.
By The Numbers:
For any region in the state to move forward from Phase 1 to Phase 2, three out of these four metrics must be met:
Trend in 14-day rate of new COVID-19 cases per 100K population decreasing by at least 10%Trend in 14-day period of new COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100K population decreasing by at least 10%ICU bed occupancy under 90% over 7-day average7-day percent positive of COVID-19 tests less than 10%
The latest data that the state reviewed showed that for the East Region:
New COVID-19 cases decreased by 43% over a 14-day periodNew COVID-19 hospitalizations decreased by 17% over a 14-day periodICU bed occupancy was 73% over a 7-day average
The only metric that the East region did not meet was a 7-day percent positive of COVID-19 tests less than 10%. The East region’s number for that time period was exactly 10%, just barely missing out on meeting all four metrics.
Statewide, all four metrics are trending down. 14-day case rate is down 40%, 14-day hospitalizations are down 16%, ICU bed occupancy over a 7-day average is down 81%, and 7-day percent positives of COVID-19 tests are down 7%.
Business and Rental Assistance:
On top of the announcement of regions moving forward, Governor Inslee also announced that $87 million will be distributed across the state for additional rental assistance ($43.5M) and business assistance ($43.5M) programs.
The money comes from the state’s Disaster Response Account and is expected to held bridge the gap to when federal funding becomes available in the spring.
