Washington Governor Jay Inslee has announced that all counties in the state will move into Phase 3 of the Roadmap to Recovery plan beginning March 22nd. The announcement comes after all counties in the state had been in Phase 2 of the reopening plan since February 15th.
The move into Phase 3 will allow up to 50% occupancy for indoor spaces, something that businesses like restaurants across the state have been hoping for since the shutdowns began.
It will also allow for up to 400 people maximum for indoor and outdoor activities, with mask and social distancing requirements in place.
Additionally, more spectators will be permitted to attend sporting events in the state. Outdoor events with permanent seating will be allowed to have 25% capacity, which will affect not only professional sports like the Seattle Mariners and Sounders, but also high school sporting events.
While the state will move into Phase 3 on March 22nd, the expanded high school spectator capacity will go into effect on March 18th, the Governor announced.
After moving into Phase 3, counties in the state will be evaluated every 3 weeks to check on how the county is doing in terms of COVID-19 numbers. The first evaluation will be on April 12th.
Each county will be evaluated on two metrics, cases over 14 days and hospitalizations over 7 days.
For counties will more than 50,000 residents, they will need to see less than 200 new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents over 14 days, and less than 5 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents over 7 days to remain in Phase 3. For example, if a county has 500,000 residents, they will need to see less than 1,000 new cases over two weeks, and less than 25 hospitalizations over one week.
For counties with less than 50,000 residents, they will need to see less than 30 cases over 14 days, and less than 3 hospitalizations over a week.
If a county fails to meet these metrics, they will move down to Phase 2 in the reopening plan. Also, if at any point the statewide ICU capacity exceeds 90%, all counties in the state will revert to Phase 1. The Department of Health also has the authority to move a county forward or backward if they see fit.
Also announced by the Governor today, people incarcerated in state or federal facilities will not count towards that county’s case rate. However, workers at prisons, jails, etc. will count towards the case rate.
