14 counties OK'd for new phase of reopening, including Pierce, King, Snohomish

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Fourteen counties received approval Friday to advance to the next phase of the governor's "Safe Start" reopening plan, as Washington state gradually and deliberately restarts its coronavirus-ravaged economy.

• Six counties, including Clark, Okanogan, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom got the green light to move from Phase 1 to Phase 2.
• Seven counties, including- Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Stevens and Wahkiakum were approved to move from Phase 2 to Phase 3.
• King County was approved to move into a modified version of Phase 1, which allows for limited and modified openings for a range of businesses, recreation, and personal activities.

The approvals were all made by state Secretary of Health John Weisman after the counties met criteria established for moving ahead and then officially applied to advance to the next phase.

The approvals means people can finally go out to dinner with restaurants that have opened with limited seating capacity.

“It’s been a long road,” said Nathan Vaughn, who works at Harmon on Pac Ave in Tacoma, which opened Friday. “I knew all the time if we could just get to the other side we’d be better. But it was sure tough getting here so we’re glad that we’re opening up today.”

“I’m just ecstatic, exhilarated, very thankful that we’re finally getting to do this and really looking forward to seeing all of our regulars tonight,” said Kelli Lonergan-Dreke, who works at Lombardi’s Italian Restaurants in Snohomish County. “We’ve got a lot of reservations already. So, I’m getting very excited.”

She said her three restaurants have the tables spaced out, staff will be wearing masks and people will asked to wait outside or in their cars until they called or texted to come in.

“So, we are grateful that today is the first step in the road to recovery," Lonergan-Dreke said.

“This important step in our COVID-19 response reflects all the sacrifice and hard work that our community has put into fighting this disease," said King County Executive Dow Constantine. "The success of this guidance depends on business owners and community members embracing public health best practices, and understanding that one size doesn’t fit all."

Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers said the move to Phase 2 would allow the county to reopen businesses "and get more people back to work." But he added: "As we transition into the next phase we must remain vigilant to maintain social distancing and necessary sanitation practices to keep our communities healthy and help our economy recover as quickly as possible.

In Skagit County, Public Health Director Jennifer Johnson said, "We are excited to move forward. It is long overdue."

Five counties still remain in umodified Phase 1 of the recovery - Chelan, Douglas, Yakima, Benton and Franklin counties.

To apply to move to the next phase, counties must submit an application to the state Department of Health. The application process requires support from the local health officer, the local board of health and the county executive or county commission.

Each county must demonstrate they have adequate local hospital bed capacity as well as adequate personal protective supplies to keep health care workers safe.

The metric goals for moving between phases are intended to be applied as targets, not hardline measures. Where one target is not fully achieved, actions taken with a different target may offset a county’s overall risk. Some of the metrics the secretary of health will evaluate in addition to other information provided by counties include:

• COVID-19 activity: The ideal target for new cases will be 25 or fewer per 100,000 residents over a 14-day period. Hospitalizations for COVID should be flat or decreasing.
• Healthcare system readiness: The available hospital beds in a given jurisdiction would preferably be at less than 80% occupancy.
• Testing: Counties should show they have adequate testing capacity, 50 times as many people per day as they have confirmed new cases per day – which equates to positive test results under 2%. They also need to show rapid turnaround time for test results, ensuring that we can work effectively to contain the virus.
• Case and contact investigations: The goal is to contact 90 percent of cases by phone or in person within 24 hours of receipt of a positive lab test result. There is also a goal of reaching all that person’s contacts within 48 hours of a positive test result. Additionally, there are goals to make contact with each case and contact during their home isolation or quarantine to help ensure their success.
• Protecting high-risk populations: The ideal number of outbreaks reported by week – defined as two or more non-household cases where transmission occurred at work, in congregate living, or in an institutional setting – is zero for counties under 75,000, and no higher than three for our largest counties.