Sophia Kobernusz-Gibbs, Staff Writer
Gov. Jay Inslee first announced reopening phases in May 2020 with the Safe Start Plan. It consisted of four phases, and though no county in Washington got to the fourth phase, areas were able to get to the third, showing the beginnings of returning to normal life. Fewer social gatherings with quarantining and testing were required. However, with drastic spikes in the winter and holiday season, a new plan of action was formed and released at the beginning of this year.
Washington is now using a new phase system for reopening. This system is called “Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery.” The entire state is divided into eight regions; Saint Martin’s resides in the West region along with Grays Harbor, Lewis, and Pacific counties. On the Washington State Governor’s Office website, all information regarding the new plan is laid out. Unlike the last plan, there are only two phases. Gov. Inslee explained that more phases can be added at a later date if needed.
There are four metric requirements, and they were made effective on Jan. 11, 2021 for moving forward from Phase 1 to Phase 2. These metrics include a decreasing trend of greater than 10% in a two-week rate of COVID-19 cases per 100K population. The trend also needs to apply to COVID-19 hospital admission rates, less than 90% ICU occupancy, and COVID-19 positivity rate of less than 10%. However, once a county is in Phase 2, they have more metrics to meet in order to remain in the second phase. These requirements include a decreasing or flat trend in a two-week rate of COVID-19 cases per 100K population, decreasing or flat trend in two-week new COVID-19 hospital admission rates per 100K population, and the ICU and COVID-19 positivity rates from Phase 1 must be applied here. Failure in two or more of these metrics would mean getting moved back to Phase 1.
In Phase 1, there are limited social gatherings outdoors and none allowed indoors. The main system of limited capacity is applied to stores and services. Fitness and entertainment are fairly restricted such as limiting the number of households present( two households as a general rule), and interaction. With Phase 2, social gatherings are allowed but limited to two households regardless of whether it is indoors or outdoors.The guidelines then change to 25% or less capacity for institutions and services. This system only has two phases, and the entire state is in Phase 2 as of Feb. 14, 2021.
Those are not the only phases brewing in this regard, as there are also the COVID-19 vaccine phases. These are divided by season as to when people will most likely receive their vaccine. 1A tier 1 and 2, and 1B tier 1 are in the winter. These are for at-risk folks, mandatory workers, people over age 65 and people over age 50 living in multigenerational homes. In the spring and summer, 1B tiers 2, 3 and 4 will be addressed. These include high-risk critical workers, starting with over 50 and then under 50. In addition, it will encompass “people 16 years or older with 2 or more comorbidities or underlying conditions.” There will be more phases to take care of the rest of the population. The summer and fall phases 2, 3 and 4 will be coming soon. These phases are in place to distribute to those most at risk, in addition to regulating the limited supply of vaccines.
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