Washington state moves to Phase 3
By Terry Murry on Thursday, March 11th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
OLYMPIA – The state of Washington will move into Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s reopening plan beginning March 22. After that date, phases will be announced on a county-by-county basis instead of the regional plan that is currently operating.
Inslee didn’t define any stages after Phase 2 until this afternoon’s news conference. He says capacity for eating in restaurants, shopping at retail stores, and attending church services will be boosted from 25 percent to 50 percent.
Attendance at outdoor professional sports activities will be allowed at 25 percent capacity. The same capacity will be allowed for rodeos, high school sports, motor sports, and other outdoor spectator events. The sporting events piece will actually go into effect a bit earlier, on March 18, for high school and youth competitions.
Counties will be evaluated on new cases and new COVID-19 hospitalizations. If a county misses one or both of those metrics it will slide back one phase. The metrics require fewer than 200 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks and fewer than five new hospitalizations per 100,000 over a one week period.
Counties with fewer than 50,000 people will have different metrics. Those include Asotin, Adams, and Garfield counties. They need to keep new cases over two weeks below 30 and under three hospitalizations over one week to remain in Phase 3.
The state will evaluate counties every three weeks on Mondays starting April 12. Changes will go into effect on the following Fridays. The county’s case numbers will not include inmates at state or federal prisons.
Meanwhile, if the state’s intensive care unit capacity rises above 90 percent, the entire state reverts to Phase 1, and the Washington State Department of Health has the authority to move counties to different phases at its discretion if appropriate.
