Gov. Jay Inslee today announced the rollback of three counties not meeting the Phase 3 Healthy Washington metrics for reopening activities.

The three counties returning to Phase 2 are:

Cowlitz County
Pierce County
Whitman County

“These metric trends are driven by the virus and we must continue to do everything we can to sharpen our focus and keep COVID-19 activity down. We are so close to the end of the tunnel here — we have made tremendous progress and we must keep our focus,” Inslee said. “It’s like a football game; we have done 95 yards on a 99 yard-drive. We can’t let up now. These are not punitive actions; they are to save lives and protect public health.”

Last Friday, the governor announced updates to the Healthy Washington criteria:

In order to move down one phase, a county must fail both metrics for case counts and hospitalizations. Under the previous plan, a county only needed to fail one metric to move back a phase.
The spectator events guidance is updated to make clear what is allowed for counties in Phase 2 and how these events are related to school graduation ceremonies. That guidance is available here.
The Open Air Seating guidance is updated to allow flexibility for eating and drinking establishments. That guidance is available here.
The next evaluation of counties will be in three weeks, on May 3.

On Thursday, April 15, all Washingtonians (16+) will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccines. Combined with sustained mask usage, physical distancing and adhering to reopening guidance, increasing vaccination rates in all counties will hopefully help in preventing a rise in COVID-19 case numbers.

Read the rest of the story on the governor’s Medium page

The above is a press release from Gov. Jay Inslee. The Auburn Examiner has not independently verified its contents and encourages our readers to personally verify any information they find may be overly biased or questionable. The publication of this press release does not indicate an endorsement of its content.