Inslee Pauses Rollbacks, All Washington Counties Stay In Phase 2

OLYMPIA, WA — In the coming weeks, none of Washington's 39 counties will move backward in the state's reopening plan, as Gov. Jay Inslee and public health leaders look to re-tool the Healthy Washington initiative, the governor announced Thursday.

The most recent version of the state's reopening roadmap sorts Washington into eight regions, which needed to meet three of four metrics to move forward. Every two weeks, state officials would review public health data for each and decide whether they would move ahead, stay put or go backward. The last of the regions entered phase two in mid-February.

On Thursday, Inslee said the state would hit pause on the bi-weekly review in its current form, preventing any region from backtracking while the state looks ahead. The governor credited several weeks of progress in case counts, hospitalizations and deaths, along with recent strides made in vaccination efforts.

"We're making this pause in recognition of the fact that we've made incredible progress in knocking down the infection rate of COVID in the last several weeks," Inslee said Thursday. "We know we need to follow the science and the data in making these decisions, but I think it is clear that we have had enough success in the recent weeks to be able to put a pause on any alternatives that regions would go backward."

Inslee pointed to statistics during the third wave, which hit daily averages of 3,000 new cases per day, now down about a third.

"Given the unprecedented level that we had in December, we had to design our reopening plan so that it was very sensitive to the potential that COVID would come springing back," Inslee said. "Under our current data trends and the progress we've made to knock down the third wave, they've told us that we don't need this really hair-trigger circuit breaker."

In the latest state profile for Washington compiled by the White House, federal data showed a 26 percent decrease in new COVID-19 cases and a 35 percent drop in deaths last week.

Despite delays in vaccine shipments and allocations consistently below the level requested, the state also has moved closer to its goal of 45,000 doses administered each day, and the three-week forecast promises more deliveries in the coming weeks.

Related: New COVID-19 Vaccine Could Help WA Make Up For Lost Time

However, the governor said it would be premature to celebrate just yet, while the specter of more infectious strains still necessitates public health precautions, including proper mask use and physical distancing.

"We cannot let our guard down when we are so close to a potential victory," Inslee said. "We have confirmed the presence of several variants in our state, some of which increase [the] possibility of transmission. We need to be mindful working with our health scientists moving forward. We've got to be both confident and cautious at the same time. If we do that, we can look forward to better days ahead."

The previous iteration of the state's reopening plan did not include phases beyond the second, and the next reopening steps are a key topic that state leaders and health officials will discuss in the coming weeks. On Thursday, Inslee did not have a timeline for when the state would reopen further and said a final framework will be informed by feedback from health experts, business leaders, community members and evolving data.

When asked if Washingtonians should expect to remain in Phase 2 through March, Inslee said the news may come sooner.

"It could be earlier than that if we get some...clarity on the variants, if we get further clarity on the ability of the vaccines to knock out the variants, it could happen before then," Inslee said. "If we find a consensus across the state about how to have business openings under certain conditions, it could be before that."