Phase 1 counties can apply Monday to reopen more businesses under revised phasing plan

Starting Monday, all counties can apply to the state to move to the next phase of reopening businesses as Washington moves gradually to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Friday.

That means that counties such as Pierce, Whatcom, Benton and Franklin counties may be moving from phase 1 to 2 soon, if they can meet new criteria overseen by the state Department of Health.

The governor’s new proclamation – which replaces one that expires late Sunday — also means that Thurston County can apply to move from phase 2 to 3 after three weeks in Phase 2, which would be June 17. Counties still will be required to submit an application to state Secretary of Health John Wiesman to ensure they meet the criteria for the next phase.

Also, Inslee announced that starting June 8, workers will be required to wear facial coverings unless they have no “in-person interactions” and employers must provide them.

Phase 1 allowed the reopening of retail (curbside pick-up orders only); automobile, recreational vehicle, boat, and off-road vehicle sales; landscaping; car washes; and pet walkers.

Phase 2 enables retail firms to resume in-store purchases, restaurants to reopen with 50 percent capacity and tables for no more than 5 people, and the re-start of new construction, real estate, hair and nail salons, and barbers.

Phase 3 allows restaurants/taverns to reopen at 75 percent capacity with tables sizes no larger than 10, as well as bar areas in restaurants/taverns at 25 percent capacity, movie theaters at 50 percent capacity, and libraries and museums.

As of Friday, 26 of 39 counties have moved to Phase 2.

Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier said he plans to submit the county’s application to move to phase 2 on Monday, when the new rules take effect.

“I hope the Secretary of Health reviews it and approves it quickly. Days matter at this point. We have small businesses and we have families that are hanging on by their fingernails. It’s very important to the people of Pierce County,” he said.

Dammeier said he spoke with Inslee on Wednesday and made the case that the “people of Pierce County are ready to move responsibly and safely to phase 2.” He cited several factors, including an increase in available testing, and a decline in the number of COVID-19 cases based on a seven-day rolling average.

On Friday, a staff member in the governor’s office expressed a belief that the new criteria would be favorable to Pierce County, Dammeier said.

“I’m pleased that the Governor acknowledged many of the arguments that we were making, and I think he found them compelling and adjusted the protocols accordingly,” he said.

Wiesman’s decisions on counties moving through Inslee’s four-phase plan will be based on a new set of criteria released Friday that the governor’s office says are “targets, not hard-line measures.”

“The Secretary of Health will evaluate county [applications] based on how their data compare to these targets and their ability to respond to situations that may arise in their county, including outbreaks, increased deaths, health system capacity and other factors,” a memo from the governor’s office states.

Those targets include:

• Fewer than 25 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population over 14 days.
• Flat or decreasing hospitalizations for lab-confirmed COVID-19.
• Less than 80 percent of licensed hospital beds occupied by patients and less than 10 percent of beds occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases.
• The capacity to do an average number of tests per day during the past week at a rate of 50 times the number of COVID-19 cases.
• 3 or fewer outbreaks reported per week for counties with more than 1 million in population, 2 or fewer for counties with more than 300,000 population, 1 for medium counties from 75,000 to 300,000 population, and zero for counties with less than 75,000 population.

An outbreak is defined as two or more non-household cases linked by epidemiology within 14 days in a workplace, congregate living or institutional setting.

Over the past month, as businesses previously deemed “non-essential” have reopened in certain counties along with recreation and parks, the stay-at-home order in part has been phased out.

However, people with underlying health conditions and those 65 years old or older are expected to continue to stay home -- except for essential activities such as grocery shopping and picking up prescription drugs. That would end in phase 4, which is also when public gatherings of more than 50 people will be allowed.

Friday’s announcement was the third set of criteria that Inslee has used to make counties eligible to move into Phase 2.

On May 1, Inslee said some counties with lower numbers of cases, small populations and sufficient amounts of personal protective equipment and hospital capacity could apply to the state Department of Health to move to phase 2 quicker. That covered about 10 rural counties.

The second round of criteria, which made Thurston County eligible to enter phase 2 last Wednesday, includes counties where there has been fewer than 10 new cases per 100,000 residents over a 14-day span.

However, counties can regress in the phases if there is a significant COVID-19 outbreak. If counties have to move, for example, from phase 3 to 1 because of an outbreak, they can submit data to Wiesman.

The governor’s office said Wiesman also has the authority to “return a county to an earlier phase if the county chooses not to do so on its own, and the Secretary has identified a need to do so.”

“The Secretary must notify a county in writing and provide a rationale for it being moved to an earlier phase,” the governor’s office said.

The plan that Inslee released Friday also enables a county that remains in phase 1 to apply for a “modified phase 1,” with an application submitted to Wiesman.

The modified Phase 1 would include the following Phase 2 activities:

• Restaurants: No indoor dining is allowed but outdoor dining is permitted with seating of 50 percent capacity.
• Recreation and fitness: Allowed outdoors with 5 or fewer people outside of the household. The instructor is not included in the count.
• Gatherings: Only allowed outdoors with 5 or fewer people from outside the household.
• In-store retail: Allowed for 15 percent of the building occupancy and indoor services limited to 30 minutes.

“This does not mean obviously that we’re returning to normal,” Inslee said. “It means three months to the day after we declared a state of emergency, we’re successfully moving forward.”

Sen. Shelly Short, R-Addy, said in a statement that Inslee’s announcement Friday shows the need for the governor to convene a special session of the Legislature in June.

“At the beginning of the emergency, we gave the governor the room to do what was necessary to save lives. It’s now time that he shows trust in the people and their elected representatives by sharing the responsibility of making the decisions on our continued recovery,” said Short, who is the Senate Republican floor leader.

“The urgency that warranted the governor exercising emergency powers is over. This next critical phase needs to give power back to the people. They have felt helpless throughout this public health crisis. Legislators actively engaging in the recovery process is the best way to empower them.”

This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Phase 1 counties can apply Monday to reopen more businesses under revised phasing plan."